Is Your Team Maxed Out or Is Something Else Going On?

"Everyone is at max capacity."

"I can't handle one more thing."

Maybe that is true. Probably not.

We know that:

• People at all levels of organizations work hard, try to do good work, and want to win.
  
  
• Organizational influences are stacked against employees when it comes to removing barriers.
  
  
• This is a time of massive transformation, yet leaders are still trying to shoehorn outdated and ineffective practices into new realities – and are failing miserably.
  
  
• People DO have the capacity, attention, energy, and effort to spare.

For example, look at the research on company meetings. There's been a 252% increase in weekly time spent in meetings since February 2020, and an estimated $37 billion is lost per year to unproductive meetings.

A solution to address an ineffective system is NOT to double down on doing more of the same. Leaders who operate this way are taking an already burnt out workforce and apply a blow torch to put out the flames.

Throw out the playbook that's telling you to keep going through the same old motions.

Here's what you need to do now:

1. Revisit your company vision, mission, values, strategies, and goals. Confirm that they are still valid or modify them for new realities.
   
   
2. Engage your team in open and honest dialogue about what you do that supports the above mentioned aims, and what you do that detracts from your ability to work directly towards those aims. Listen without judgment or rationalization.
   
   This step is about essentialism, so minimize everything that takes away from your ability to create and capture value.
   
   
3. Prioritize what you heard and involve your team in the prioritization process. Develop interdisciplinary teams to attack the work (rethinking structure, reimagining role visions, removing organizational barriers that bog down workflow, blowing up current meeting schedules, and redefining what authentic connection can look like).
   
   
4. Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more. People need to know what is happening, why things are happening, points of progress, and where help is needed. This isn't about one-way communication.
   
   Set up dynamic communication systems (like Latch) to create clarity, alignment, and connection across your entire organization.
   
   
5. Revisit, redefine, and recommit with regularity. Big killers of strategic initiatives include diminished executive sponsorship, loss of momentum, and diffusion of focus.
   
   This is your chance to beat the odds.