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Having more meetings, suggesting a new process, and hiring more people are necessary for organizations to accomplish their goals. However, these things can also create unnecessary complexity — preventing you and your team from reaching its goals. Best-selling author and Stanford Management Professor Bob Sutton calls this common occurrence the well-intended organizational overload. Follow these three rules to avoid feeling overwhelmed:
- Ruthlessly cut out inessential meetings, processes, and goals. For example, Asana doesn’t have meetings on Wednesdays so everyone can focus on work during the hump day. This can also apply on a personal level: learn to say ‘no’ more often to additional meetings and projects.
- Keep your meetings and teams lean. Live by Amazon’s, “never have a meeting where two pizzas can’t feed the entire group”, rule. Keep your teams nimble by setting a limit on the amount of people invited to every meeting. Stop hiring more people, and hire the right people.
- Revisit your understanding of your employees’ roles. What outcomes are crucial to your organization’s success? Who’s responsible for this work? What resources and support do they need to succeed? Ask these questions before adding new practices, rules, meetings, and functions.
The next time you find yourself ordering that third box of pizza for your meeting, take a look at these three rules and see where you can cut back.
What are some strategies you can do when your organization is overwhelmed? If you feel overwhelmed as a manager, see our post on managing less.
