‘Give it to Lucy, she will get it done’ is something you have probably heard in the office multiple times a day or when a new challenge is looming. It could be a different name or a different gender, but there is a Lucy in each team.
When something is complex or challenging, new or needs to be delivered urgently, there is always the high performer who has a larger workload than the rest of the team but still gets things done.
You may have the remainder of the team who don’t want to take anything else on, just aren’t as reliable to deliver or will not learn a new expertise. The balance is skewed and Lucy will gain more knowledge and development theough these tasks, she will feel exhilarated by it all but will later be looking for a way out as quickly there is nothing new to learn apart from she has an imbalanced workload and she doesn’t feel part of the team.
Having a leader who recognises this inequality from team volunteers for new tasks and stepping out of their comfort zone adds some way to keep Lucy engaged, but the words thank you or opportunity for growth can only be used for so long.
The main thing is understanding that Lucy will move on but spending more time on her personal development and needs will keep her perspective of your leadership positive. Aligning these extra tasks that someone just needs to get done to her future career goals whether by networking or by experience in a task, providing accreditations always helps to engage. It incentivises the remainder of the team to do these activities too.
Sometimes as a leader, it is about equitable teamwork and some of the rest of the team will have to so things they don’t want to do but are more than capable and with capacity to do so to. As a leader, coaching isn’t always about leading those that deliver and give us an easy ride, it is about providing challenge to the others too.
Do you have experience of this? Share with me below.
Skills Repeat 