Don’t let your hard work become a monkey on your team’s back

Do you stay late on Friday and/or come in early on Monday? If so, it probably means you’re a dedicated manager who wants to stay on top of things, and kudos to you.

But all this extra work can backfire – if you dampen your team’s spirit by making them feel the weight of your extra hours on the job.

Stream of consciousness
One way this could happen: You’re toiling away at 6:30 p.m. Friday or 7:30 a.m. Monday, from home or at your desk, and you start firing off e-mails to your team as you think of each task that needs to be done during the week to come.

Before you know it, you’ve loaded their in-boxes with 100 details, blurted out in stream-of-consciousness style.

And so when your employees start work Monday morning, they’re greeted by a mountain of e-mail. It feels like an uphill battle from the start.

Solutions
Of course, the solution isn’t to stop communicating with your reports about what needs to be done. But a few simple steps on your part can help them manage their time:

1. Flag urgent messages so they know which to tackle first.
2. Wrap as many tasks and questions as you can into one document.
3. If you do slip and fire off a flurry of messages, a quick note acknowledging the unusual volume will help take the pressure off.

Source: “Soup: A Recipe to Nourish Your Team and Culture,” by Jon Gordon.