I’ve noticed how buried I was feeling, but it wasn’t until I got a few days away from the whirlwind that I realized how far I am from where I want to be. I cannot realize my full potential as a leader buried until these piles of work that is best done by my team. And how will I find the time to reflect or plan when I can barely find the time to eat my lunch?

So what’s my action plan? Some of the great ponderers have said that clearing the deck is just a self-defeating loop that creates more work. But what if clearing the deck is actually providing the deliverables your job demands? I strongly recommend a good triage session of clearing the deck by applying these rules:

Does this task still need to be done?
Does this actually require me to do it?
Can I empower or develop someone on my team with this task?

I’ve made a big dent in my helpdesk ticket piles by applying those rules. I can keep my list down by appling the “who not how” principle: Understanding WHO can help you accomplish this task instead of HOW you can complete the task.

The biggest challenge I have is a lack of documentation on the tasks that I am still doing. My thoughts here are:

document the process if required in our KB system, then delegate;
or document the expectations for successful completion of the task, then delegate and let the team member decide how it gets done.
Either option will work well in my situation.

This has been a pretty successful day. I brought my personal helpdesk queue down from 150+ to 62 items that require me to make a decision.