Swamped & Undersupported: Hidden Struggles
Every senior leader has their hidden struggles.
Many are very good at keeping it that way. Out of sight and out of mind to avoid the awkward questions and any hint at fallibility.
Yet hiding them does not make them go away. The challenges of these jobs are immense, but they are rarely solved when senior leaders get to the point of hiding them from themselves.
In senior roles the stadium of the workplace is looking at you, and that can feel like more than enough scrutiny without engaging in some reflection.
How does ‘swamped and undersupported’ become the norm and what can be done about it?
Here’s three key areas.
Others do not understand the job you do.
In essence they don’t do they?
Even the responsibilities of those in the tier beneath you are generally only half as broad. The true proportion may be much smaller, for example, if you are a Chief Executive with three to four Deputies or equivalent.
Senior leaders have to change gears violently and often. The call about the project you are bidding for ends one minute and the disciplinary hearing begins the next. The tour around the building for potential new recruits is replaced by an urgent meeting about finances. The higher you go the more prone you are to flick between topics, levels of responsibility, context and audience.
Unless you have done it you do not really know.
Too often senior leaders decide that the breadth of their job is overwhelming for those around them. Consequently they keep it to themselves and do not allow others into their world. Explaining the cold realities of your job to others not only shares the problem but it is also valuable professional development for others. If you want them to understand, and if you want to feel less lonely, it will not happen by osmosis.
2. Conventional solutions for managing workload feel irrelevant
Let’s go through some old favourites.
Have a limit to the number of tasks you try to do on any given day.
Prioritise only what you really need to do.
Delegate more, starting with your next task.
Have a hard stop to your working day, anything else can just wait.
It is not that these strategies cannot work. In fact any way forward is likely to have something along these lines as part of a wider solution. The point is that in isolation, and without the full context of the difficulty of the job, they are chocolate fireguards.
More appropriately you want solutions to problems such as
When will this 24/7 tidal wave of emails ever end?
Why is there someone at my door AGAIN?
Why is every call due to last at least one hour and why do they always overrun?
In short, the issues are structural. Many senior jobs can present as three to four jobs in one, each requiring full time work, generating relentless complexity and therefore requiring expert corner-cutting to squeeze them into one (including on your work-life balance).
Tweaking your routines will only go so far and for a limited period. Addressing workload means getting to your deeper habits, mindset and beliefs about work. It’s classic ‘what got you here won’t get you there’ territory. This is particularly difficult on your own, although not impossible. Bespoke problems require bespoke solutions.
3. Build your network of support
When I speak to potential clients for the first time some have the idea that a leadership coach can help them solve every problem to the exclusion of everyone else.
Whilst I would argue that a coach is a core part of the picture it is unlikely to be the only one. A network may include:
Significant other
Line manager
Peers
Acquaintance with a similar job or history
Friends
Counsellor
All have a role to play with supporting you personally and professionally. Family and friends will notice changes in you that you may not see in yourself.
Those who have sat in your seat, whether now or in the past, know the realities you face. They likely also know the journey you are going on right now. They understand the jaw dropping moments when you stare into space and consider that you never thought it could be anything like as hard.
Whatever your circumstances you are on well-trodden ground. You do not have to figure it out alone. Why waste the time figuring out how to do so when help should be at hand? There is no pride in silently shouldering the burden.
Ultimately you need those opportunities for 100% total honesty without fear of judgement, making others worry unnecessarily or perception of weakness. You absolutely need to have that somewhere in your network of support.
Your job is hard enough as it is, why compound it? Opening up can relieve enormous stress and provide the perspective you really need. The strongest of leaders need safe places to seek counsel and express humanity.
Remember that:
The concepts of ‘swamped’ and ‘undersupported’ are not mutually exclusive. You need to address both.
‘Coping with the demands’ is nothing but a short-term strategy. To prosper you need quality outcomes, and for those you need to be on top of the detail. ‘Swamped’ must be a temporary state.
How can I help you?
1. One to one coaching programmes for senior leaders who are swamped by their jobs so they can thrive in life. Click here to discover where you are on your journey from Frantic to Fulfilled? Just 5 minutes of your time and you will receive a full personalised report with guidance on your next steps!
2. Team coaching programmes - working IN a team is not the same as working AS a team and yet they are often treated as if they are the same. I help teams move from the former to the latter, and generate huge shifts in productivity and outcomes.
3. Talks, workshops and seminars - including topics relevant to the two areas above plus explaining Gen Z to Gen X.
