Whether you are the boss of your own company or you are a c-suite executive leading a team within someone else's company, there is one thing that you will always have in common: you are constantly managing a wide variety of tasks at all times.
You might be training a new hire on the company sales process and teaching them how to lead successful product demos, managing inventory of your own products, popping in and out of meetings and zoom calls, managing your own lead generation, navigating the rough water of business growth while maintaining work-life balance, and so much more. All of this can lead to something called "decision fatigue". According to Washington State University and the Carson College of Business, decision fatigue "is mental exhaustion resulting from the sheer number of decisions a person must make daily, leading to difficulty making—or making good—decisions."
As a high level achiever, suffering from decision fatigue can be a major problem. You are respected within your community and companies alike and are expected to have the answers - to everything - all the time. However, if you're mind is completely burnt out, there is no way you can effectively provide clear direction when your mind is in a mental fog.
It is important to keep your headspace clear and have your mental load as light as possible so you can continually maintain your successful career. A relatively easy way to do this is to learn how to strategically offload tasks so that you can focus on what matters most - growing your business or career while maintaining a balanced personal life. Here are some easy things you can implement today to lighten your mental load and reduce decision fatigue:
Assessing Your Current Executive Workload
Task Inventory:
Create a comprehensive list of your current tasks. Include everything down to the most minor tasks, both routine and one off tasks.
Time Analysis:
Analyze how much time you spend on each task and note it. Note, the tasks that take the most time would likely benefit most from being delegated.
Identifying Your Strengths and Weaknesses as a Leader
Strength Recognition:
Reflect on your tasks that you wrote down and identify those that align with your personal strengths. Figure out what is your "zone of genius" and things you enjoy doing and then identify tasks that fit within that zone.
Recognizing Weaknesses:
Acknowledge tasks that are outside their expertise and are things your dread, or procrastinate, doing. Think about it this way, if you're handling tasks that are outside of your skill set or that you literally avoid doing, then that is a clear sign it needs to be delegate elsewhere. The result would be far better when handled by someone with aligned skills or the desire to do it well.
Understanding the Type of Support Needed
Idea Generation vs. Decision Making vs. Implementation:
Decide what type of help you need most relating to each of your tasks. Differentiate between tasks that require creative input, strategic decision-making, or hands-on implementation. Here are some examples of each:
Task: I need to create a mood board concept for this month's magazine issue.
Support Needed: Idea Generation, someone to help brainstorm
Task: I need to decide between adding product A or product B to our new line.
Support Needed: Decision Making, someone to provide input and perspective
Task: I need a sales funnel for all of our potential customers to enter through to facilitate engagement and brand awareness
Support Needed: Implementation, someone to create the funnel and lead magnets
b. Assessing Personal Preferences: - Think about your personal preferences and how they can influence the type of support needed. Some things to consider:
do you prefer solo or collaborative work?
do you prefer routine or one off tasks?
do you like to plan strategically and plan for the future?
do you like to take action on an idea to make it happen?
do you like to make decisions alone or have input from others?
do you like to write down your ideas or talk them through?
do you like regular checkins and updates or do you want updates as needed?
do you prefer remote or in-person work?
Delegating Effectively as a High Achiever
Now that you have gotten a list of all of the tasks you handle, now it's time to determine and delegate strategically.
Selecting Tasks for Delegation:
Look at your entire list of tasks and determine the ones that absolutely only you can do (think if you're an artist, you are the only one that can paint the painting) and determine the ones that can easily, or with a little training, could be handled by someone else. Once you have the tasks separated into those two categories, it's time to determine the most effective way you can receive support.
Choosing the Right Support:
Reflect on the three different types of support we talked about earlier: idea generation, decision making, or implementation. The type of support the tasks requires will help us determine the kind of support we need. Typically, these are the types of companies and businesses you will want to look to for support baed on your support need:
Idea Generation: Consultants and Coaches
Decision Making: Consultants, Business Managers, Operations Specialists, Advisors
Implementation: Business Managers, Operations Specialists, Virtual Assistants, In-House Teams, In Person Assistants
Implementing Changes within your Organization and Team
Creating a Delegation Plan:
Now that you have determined the support you need, it is time to actually delegate and assign it. A good place to start with this cold be to create an account with Slack, Trello, or Asana and manage your tasks there. If you're unsure how to do this, you can find a free delegation guide here. The most important part of this will be to have open communication and understand there will be some growing pains. There will be a learning curve for you and your support. Try not to be frustrated and don't give up at the first hiccup.
Overall, managing your mental load and limiting decision fatigue is extremely important when running a business and leading a team. In order to be the most effective and provide the best outcome with your work and efforts, it is important to do some self-reflection. Assess your workload, recognize your strengths and weaknesses, understanding the type of support you need, learn to effectively delegate, and truly take action and implement change.
If you need help with any or all of these things, Mackleys Management is here to support you. Offering consulting, online business management, and in-person work days, we are here to help you reach the next level. Book a free call with us today: www.mackleysmanagement.com/book
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