Dealing With Invisible Work (The goal isn't always to optimize or eliminate it.)

Invisible work. “Glue work.”

The very fact that it is invisible makes it hard for you as a leader to manage.

Over my career, I’ve seen many ideas on how to reign in invisible work. And most of the time, it involved creating new processes to document every request and make the invisible visible.

“If someone asks you to do something other than what you’re working on, tell them to create a ticket.”

“If you do any work that’s not on the roadmap, write it down and account for your time.”

The “document everything” approach most often creates a strong incentive to eliminate the invisible work, because tracking it creates such overhead either for the requestor or for the performer of the work.

“Oh, but eliminating the invisible work is perfect,” you might say.

Be careful, though. It’s the invisible work of relationship building that creates the culture of trust that speeds up cross-team initiatives and increases their chances of success. It’s the invisible work of training and mentoring that fosters long-term growth of both the team members and the mentor. It’s the invisible work of chasing a curiosity or resolving a nagging pain point that often leads to the innovations with the greatest payoff.

Unfortunately, it can also be the invisible work of pet projects and private obsessions that create waste and derail deliverables.

But rather than respond by demanding documentation for all invisible work, think about how clearly you have articulated the high-level goals and values of your team, department, and organization. Can you trust your people to make discerning decisions about what invisible work is worth investing in?

If you’re not sure, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.

Видео Dealing With Invisible Work (The goal isn't always to optimize or eliminate it.) канала Northway Insights