The Invisible Workload

23 Mar The Invisible Workload

I saw a post recently talking about this idea of the ‘invisible workload’ – the weight of having to think about & plan everything. This is referred to as the invisible workload because even if you’re not the one doing everything, you might be the one THINKING about all the things, and making all the decisions. (If you’re a mum, you can probably relate!)

What are we having for dinner? What gift should we get for the birthday party this weekend? Lillie needs a dentist appointment. What are we going to do for Christmas? I could go on and on and on….

Even when you have help and support, sometimes it can feel like just as much effort to tell people what you need, as it does to just do the damn thing yourself.

I often make the correlation between business and family and how the issues in one, often pop up in the other too.

How much of what you ‘do’ each day falls into the invisible workload category? Things that aren’t obvious and can’t necessarily be checked off a to-do list, but can take up a surprising amount of time & energy. 

Things like:

• Deciding what task should be handled by which team member and then delegating it out
• Checking in and checking on – how are you going with such and such? What’s the status of this? Have we heard back from XYZ?
• Making decisions – this is often the hardest! Whether it be something small or major, all require energy and time (did you know decision fatigue is a real thing)

Now to some degree the invisible workload is just par for the course – you’re the boss, you’ll always need to think and make decisions, after all, for many, this is why you started your business, you wanted to make decisions and not just “be along for the ride”.

But as your business grows you simply don’t have the capacity (or the desire!) to keep this element of your workload on your plate. And it can start to show over time through exhaustion, frustration or a lack of progress as things sit waiting for your input & decisions.

You become the bottleneck of your business.

But there are steps you can take to reclaim your time and passion…

• Hire an OBM to take some of the invisible workload off your shoulders – an OBM will work alongside you, putting the plan together that you need to reach your goals and then supporting you to manage your team to execute it. 
• Hire a great team – hire quality workers with the right attitude and values that align with your own. These are the people that you can rely on and empower to take ownership of their roles and grow their responsibilities. Best of all, you won’t need to micromanage or hold their hands to get things done.
• Automate and simplify – stop doing everything manually and put strong SOPs (standard operating procedures) in place. Have tasks documented and guidelines where needed. This can be time consuming in the beginning but is so worth it, in the long term!
• Prioritise – Look at every idea, project and task with a view of prioritising it. Do you need to do it? What benefit does it have to the business or customer? Just because you’ve thought it up, doesn’t necessarily mean you need to act on it immediately.

I’m curious – how does the invisible workload show up for you? What could you achieve if you didn’t have to do this?

This is how I help get results for my clients and what it means to work with an experienced OBM in your business.

If your workload, invisible or otherwise, is feeling like too much, let’s connect.