The company culture of being ‘too busy’

I recently pointed out to an organization I work for that it had invested so heavily in the narrative of “overwhelm ”that its culture was defined by the words “too busy.”

The leaders I was talking to immediately acknowledged the truth of that narrative and its impact. As GI Joe says, “Knowing is half the battle.”

However, leaders in these kinds of organizations have to be willing to wage war on this kind of narrative. It starts with their own narratives.

After the discussion with this team, I counted how many times over the course of the next few days I heard a reference about being “too busy” inside the organization. The number was staggering. More than 100 mentions, according to the tick marks I made on a sticky note next to my computer.

Priorities

We all know the saying, “If it’s all important, nothing is important,” is true.

I love language and words and heard somewhere that the word “priority” didn’t even have a plural form until the 1950s. That was when women began to enter the professional workforce in large numbers and began the toxic trend of being full-time homemakers and professionals.

We have “priorities” now instead of a priority. Whether the linguistic history is accurate or not, I could not prove it, but the logic is there.

Last week I found myself scheduled for something every single night, on top of a really big professional week.

In the almost year since my husband died, I have not been as active in social settings as I had been in previous stages of life. As I looked at that week before it began, I defaulted to my grief narrative: too much, too painful, too busy.

Then one of those cosmic 2-by-4s smacked my consciousness, and I realized I could shift that perspective. I decided to enjoy the events I had said yes to before I realized they were stacked into a single week.

That simple shift in attitude had my week flow smoothly and even energized me. Which had me returning to the leaders with whom I had shared my “too busy” observation.

Using power

As leaders, we have multiple forms of power. Some are direct and some are indirect. Culture is formed in both types of power and a third — collaborative. What we create together, as a collection of individuals inside an organization, is our culture.

We can choose to build a culture around being too busy, taking on too much, and asking for more work than there are hours in a day.

Or, we can choose to lead people to do good work in ways that energize them and serve our clients and customers with that same productive, not just busy, energy.

Dangerous Leaders know which serves the authentic, purpose-filled path of their calling.

Live Dangerously. Be You.

Jennifer Smith is a Cedar Rapids-based personal and executive coach, host of The Dangerous Leader Podcast, and unapologetic optimist. Comments: jennifer@dangerousleader.com; @drjennsmith