Welcome to Ackting Your Leadership. I'm Chris and I'm Lorenzo. And Lorenzo.
On this episode, I want to talk about a listener question that was brought
in. I received it as a direct message on LinkedIn, and you know,
it's it's kind of a generic enough question where it's kind of leading me
to believe this is something that I think I've I've felt in my own mind
many times throughout the years, and I think it's something maybe our listeners have
felt, or maybe our feeling too. The listener that sent us this message
said that they felt like they were constantly being asked to do more with less,
and those are kind of those are words that are kind of triggering a
little bit in the mind of someone who has spent a lot of years in
leadership and in retail leadership, and it is it's true, like if I
feel like when I was doing this hands on every year, it was the
same thing, do more with less, do more with less. I remember
thinking at one point I wish I could go back to the less resources I
had five years ago, when I thought I was being asked to do more
with less then, because that was way more than I have today. But
This is a thing that companies are constantly looking to do, is create efficiencies,
right, to make things more efficient, And that can feel like do
more with less, and sometimes it is, sometimes it's not. It really
depends on the situation. But they are words that I think are triggering in
the minds of a lot of leaders around the workforce because it's a constant thing.
It's like you get asked to do more with less and whatever happens happens,
and you figure it out and you get it to work, and you
think, wow, I'm working with this now, I was able to do
more with less, and then three months or six months or a year later,
more is taken away, or in your mind you feel like I have
less resources even now than I did a year ago. It's like a constant
thing where you feel like where does this ever end? And I think it's
an important thing to talk about because sometimes it's real, sometimes it's not.
And and I think that the most successful leaders I know are the ones who
don't seem to be affected by this. And it's like, well, how
how is a person not impacted by this? It's not like they have some
secret resource stash that no one else gets access to that they have. So
if they're really not being impacted by this psychologically, emotionally, or in their
ability to get their work done, what is it that they know that everybody
else doesn't know. What is it that they're doing that everybody else isn't doing
that is leading them to believe that the old do more with less isn't as
big a deal as other people are making it. Yeah, I think it's
great dialogue. And you're right, it's one of those things that after a
career and continual career in retail leadership, you hear it. You're just like
yeah, of course, like yeah, like this is this is the only
constant is that it seems like there's less. But I also think it's like
some of it is is I wouldn't say like short sighted. I just think
like some of it is a ignoring some of the other things that have also
changed. When I think specifically about like things like systems and processes and efficiencies
created by technology, Like there's a lot of things that if I if I
really step back and like take myself out of my own personal feelings of like
looking at like just things like how many people do I have versus what am
I supposed to do, Like I also have to take into account, like
the things that have been added or changed or adjusted or evolved that have helped
certain industries to do things faster. And maybe in your industry it's something like
AI or something like the ability to get content quicker, or you know,
the use of the internet to connect with people from a creative standpoint. Like
you know, I think of even things like in the music industry and recording,
the amount of sessions now that are virtual recording sessions where somebody is in
a whole different country recording as you know, something for a song that's in
La where you know, twenty thirty years ago you had to fly somebody in
and be a studio session, you know, musician, And so like,
there are things over time that we have to we have to accept and give
credit to the fact that there are things that have been helpful. But I
think you're onto something when you talk about it kind of being like it seems
like some people are just magic with it, Like they're just like, oh,
like not only like it, like they're having the same impact that I'm
having, but they seem to just kind of coast through it and still produce
the outcomes or the strategies, the execution of the strategies without really any issues,
and it's just it seems like, how is that possible? And I
think that a lot of this really does come down to not just a mindset.
You know, in those moments where you know where you know it's gonna
be tough or it'll be harder, or you're up against some things where you're
like, I don't know if I have enough of what I need to make
it happen. But I also think that it's it's not just in that moment,
but I think for some leaders, it's the constant preparation and work done
around building efficiencies and work systems that can be kind of adjusted and and they're
agile, they can be applied. It's it's it's helping lead other leaders and
people build skill in uh in becoming more efficient and becoming more maybe maybe more
innovative in how things get done. They always say, like, you know,
what is it? Necessity is the mother of innovation, right exactly?
Like so because you have no choice but to figure out a better way to
do things when you don't have enough to do those things, so like tend
to figure it out. You figure it out, right. So I think
that there are just some people that have that mindset and look at it and
just say like it's almost kind of like the whole like, well, it
is what it is, So like, I'm not going to spend any time
really like you know, thinking about it or being mad about it. I'm
just going to figure out how to make this work. And and you know,
there's definitely been times in my career where I like, I know that
I kind of have that mentality, but I've also been like what is going
on right now? Right, like like this is ridiculous, Like, so
I've definitely been there as well. And I think it's something that I think,
you know, especially in our industry, going into you know, holiday
here, we expect that we're going to see, you know, uh an
interesting kind of revival of traffic into malls and retail and shopping. And I
know that many retail leaders are doing the same thing, and they're just looking
around and just kind of like counting how many people like you said it earlier
and be like, man, this this something doesn't feel right. And I
think that it's important to think about it, talk about it, strategize ahead
of time, and be prepared for probably what you're going to see. I
don't want to minimize the impact of what it feels like to feel like you're
being asked to do more with less. And so there is a very real
kind of triggering and almost like an emotional kind of like oh, man,
really like you and I both said it. We both said like, yeah,
it's a term that we don't want to hear. It is we don't
want to hear. We don't want to hear it. And to the point
where a lot of a lot of organizations have stopped using it and they just
kind of quietly take some resources away or don't provide something and then just like,
oh, they'll figure it out. I guess you know, or maybe
they won't. And it can be triggering when you when you think as the
person who's being asked to do more with less, that the person who's who's
doing this or group of people who's doing this is sitting there going ooh,
we've we've saved these resources for ourselves. They they don't need it. They
we don't need to walk a mile in their shoes. We're good with our
thing. We're not being asked to do more with less, so we can
just pass it along to them. And if you go into it with that
mindset, it's really hard not to become cynical by it. Like you,
it's almost impossible not to what I what I will say is that some cases
people are being asked to do more with less, and sometimes they're not.
But anytime it feels that way, you absolutely are being asked to do things
differently. That is that is the constant. So whether you actually have more
or less resources or or you you feel kind of like in this, in
this situation where you're being asked to do more with less, you very much
are being asked to do things differently, even if you're not being told outright
that you are. And so I'll give up like a perfect analogy of us
here, Let's say that someone were to say to you, you know,
you you have this, you have to get from California to Texas in a
day, and and you have your car, and you think, okay,
if I just go go non stop, I can I can do this.
And then you get it done and it's like it's tiring, but you get
there. And then the next year someone says, all right, I need
you to go to Florida now, from California, not just not just Texas,
and and they go and you have you have a day and a half.
It's like, well, I won't be able to sleep, you know,
and you don't stop to think to ask, oh, wait, can
I fly? You know, like like if you can fly, well,
then that's that that solves your problem right there. If you if you believe
that you only have the resources that you have and you're not thinking about what
can I do to get this thing done, then of course it could feel
like you're being asked to do more and less. To drive twice the distance
in very little more time would mean you're foregoing sleep. It would mean you
potentially it's unsafe. You know, there's a lot of things that come into
play here. But if instead you just stop to think, oh can I
fly, well, then that solves your problem. This is the exact same
thing I was. I just a consulting work for an organization where there were
it was a retail organization where there were a lot of multi unit managers,
district managers who had somewhere between like four and five stores each and they what
I found was that they weren't leading their teams well, they weren't leading their
store leaders well and developing them because they were trying to do the work of
their store managers by spending a day in each store. They would go to
each store each day and spend a whole day there, and then some of
the managers who had six stores were actually working six days a week because they
were spending one day in each of those stores trying to get with every single
one of the one of the leaders. And no matter what we would tell
them about how they should be doing their jobs different, they were in this
mindset of this is the only way to get it done is to spend this
amount of time with each person. And so what we started doing is as
a district manager would leave the organization, instead of replacing that person, their
stores would be distributed to the other districts around them, to the point where
there were some district managers who had ten, twelve, thirteen stores and they
would be like, how can I do this? How can I run thirteen
stores? And it was like, you're not supposed to run thirteen stores.
You're supposed to develop and lead thirteen individual managers who you can spend time with
over the phone or in person, and they are supposed to be running their
stores, and you need to be holding them accountable to do it, not
doing their job, because what we noticed was that the managers in the stores
felt like their arms were tired, like they couldn't make a decision without reaching
out to the district manager. You know that it was this kind of like
everything stopped if the district manager wasn't available, and that's no way to run
a business. And so to the district manager standpoint, it could look like
they were being asked to do more with less, but in reality, what
they were being asked to do is something different with their job than they thought
they were supposed to be doing. I think that can can tie in everywhere
here anytime I have been asked to do more with less, if I reframe
it into okay, where am I spending my time? And am am I
actually spending time where I'm supposed to be spending it? Or are there things
I can take off my plate? I'm not actually being asked to do more
with less, I'm actually being asked to do a different job than what I
think my job has been. Yeah, I think it's a great point,
and I also think that there is like as you were kind of walking through
that example, I thought about this. I thought about the fact that coming
out of kind of shut downs and people working from home and then getting back
into either offices and all speak on behalf of retail like where a lot of
what kind of was built into efficient behavior was for like those calls and virtual
meetings and things were like now there was a lot more access to people who
would work out in the field or in stores. And I think, while
on one side of the coin, that may have made it more efficient and
quicker to get work done for those that utilize the technology in the virtual world
to get work done, it also has slowed those who don't work in that
space because like there's this is this expectation of access to people that aren't typically
kind of in the virtual space or are normally in the field type of thing.
So I think that there has to also be a little bit of a
shift and swing the other way because I think of the amount of retail leaders
that I've spoken to, you know, in all different organizations where they're like,
yeah, like we you know, for a long time, we've increased
the amount of calls and virtual meetings that we've done because it was like we
know that there was a lot of good work done. There was a lot
of innovation, There was a lot of great you know, relevant you know
insights or feedback from the teams, where normally a corporate office wouldn't have that
much access, Like you really have to work through the channels of regional people,
market you know level people, uh, you know, leaders within stores
or whatever. And from a retail standpoint, you'd have to have three or
four conversations over the course of time to maybe get some really relevant right now
information about how things are going. And then and then the virtual meetings like
that helped to get the information quickly. So like I want to I want
to say that there's a lot of great work that was done as a result
of that connection and that speed of information flowing. But then as I've talked
to these other retail leaders, as the as the the the traffic demand in
retail has has lifted again, as as stores across the world have reopened,
It's like that amount of access is difficult to give when if I'm doing kind
of you know, I'm running more of a lean team or a lean business.
That means I'm more included in the day to day that needs to get
the work done, so like you know, we're more efficient over here,
and it's good for our company, but it's pulling me away from the work
that I know I need to get done daily. And that's something that I
think organizations to have to be conscious of balancing because they are opposing forces to
a degree to make sure that you're getting not only the critical insight, but
the execution is much more consistent because because the leader is not distracted with doing
calls versus being with their teams. I think back to that example that I
gave it where the district managers were being asked to do things differently. If
you're in a situation where you feel like you're being asked to do more with
less, it becomes really important to be clear with your direct manager, your
direct leader, or what the definition of the responsibilities you have are in a
very in a very strategic way. So it's not that you have this list
of things that you have to get done and now there's more things on that
list. It's you sit down with your leader and you say, Okay,
this is what my day looks like, this is what I do. Does
that seem right to you? Does that does that seem like I'm doing with
my day what you think I should be doing with my day, Because at
the end of the day, this this is the person who writes your review,
who gives you your your annual and bi annual check ins that can you
know, lead to whatever performance ratings you have and and can open doors for
you know, career progression for you. So it's important that this person and
you are aligned on what your role actually is. And if you are listing
off what you do with your day and that person says, wait a minute,
I didn't know that's what you were doing with your day. Of course,
it would feel like you are being asked to do more with less.
You're trying to do all this stuff when you shouldn't be doing this. You
should be focusing just on this and this and this and then actually do that,
actually do those things that are there instances where people are being asked to
do work where it is way more than what could potentially get done in a
short amount of time, and the person asking it just has completely no idea
what it's like to walk a mile in the shoes of that person. Of
course, there are like, of course that happens, but there's no way
to know whether that's what's happening or whether you as an individual have the wrong
expectations of yourself until you actually lay it out with somebody, sit down and
work out what the responsibilities are, What are the priorities. Everything can't be
a priority, because if everything's a priority, nothing's a priority. So what
are the actual priorities? What are the two or three things that if everything
else has to get pushed aside? Remember we talk about the whole like,
you know, if something is urgent and important, right, we've had discussions
about that before. What are the things that are that are both urgent and
important and those are the things that have to come first and everything else,
you know, takes the back seat or goes later on. If you focus
on the things that you're supposed to be focusing on, the other things tend
to be okay or tend to work themselves out unless you truly have unrealistic expectations
on being set upon you. And if that's the case, that's a different
conversation. But even though that does happen, I think a lot of cases
that's not what's happening. It just feels like that's what's happening, and the
lack of communication and openness and dialogue and kind of level setting that is occurring
is what's leading to these people feeling like they're just burning out because they're being
asked to do more with less. I think some conversations can solve some of
these yep, I completely agree and with that it brings us to this episodes
one Minute Hack. But first, a few words for our sponsors. All
right, for this episode, what a minute hackers or want you to do.
If you are a leader and you feel like you're being asked to do
more with less? Right now, what I want you to do is get
out your pen and paper. I want you to take some time and write
down what it is that you do every day, every week, every month,
not the things that are outlier one off, so oh, I spent
an enorminant amount of time doing this one thing that's not the traditional thing.
The things that you reliably do every day, every week, every month,
and the amount of hours that you spend doing it. Write all those things
down, and I want you to sit down with your direct leader and present
those things and show them this is what I spend my time doing. Be
prepared to make changes to those things based on feedback. You get from your
leader. Meaning if the leader is saying to you, oh, you spend
you know, fifteen hours a week doing this, it really should be more
like two and you should move that time to doing these other things instead.
If you're not ready to hear that feedback or to change those things, this
is not the right exercise for you. You need to be in a mindset
where the goal is to solve the problem of you feeling like you're being asked
to do too much, and so get real with what you're being asked to
do, write it all down, present it, and work with your leader
to figure out where should you be spending your time. If you're finding that
you're being asked to change things into areas where you maybe don't like spending a
lot of your time or that you're not as good at, that could be
your problem because you need to get better at those things or figure out a
way to be in a different role where you're doing more of the things you
like doing as opposed to the things your your role actually is. And so
if you get clear with your leader about where you're actually supposed to be spending
your time, chances are you will be less likely to feel like you're doing
more with less. Yeah, I think it's a great woman to hack.
And it's just a reminder like at the end of the day, a lot
of how and where we spend our time is going to define our ability to
get work done and be as efficient as possible. And you know, as
as we consider the continual evolution of systems and processes and all these types of
things, it you know, and I love that you kind of called this
out, like in the moment, we all have all had the same visceral
reaction when we hear those terms and we think about, like, how am
I possibly going to do this? And you know, how is it that
I did this you know, last year, the year before, and now
I'm being asked to do more and I can physic see that I have less.
Like there's a lot of ways that we kind of get caught up in
those spaces. And for some people listening to the podcast, like it's it's
a harsh reality. Like the reality is maybe there have not been system updated
updates, there have not been efficiencies made, there have not been things that
have been done to help to mitigate some of that work. And it's gonna
be tough, and so I think it's like, if it's going to be
tough and you know you've got to get the work done, then really,
how and where you spend your time is so critical to making sure that you're
aligned with your direct report and that you're doing the things that will help you
get the work done as efficiently as possible. Right, And the other thing
is that there is a real thing here when it comes to mindset. So
the people that I reference at the beginning of the episode, who I think
just seem impervious to this. Yes, they are very clear with their leaders
about where they'reupposed to be spending their time, but they also are very clear
with themselves on what is important to them, and they're confident in the results
they produce in the areas that they know are important, where they actually where
they make a contribution where it doesn't get to them. So in cases where
there are days or weeks or short periods of time where they are actually being
asked to do more with less, it doesn't end up burning them out because
in their minds they understand what the value is that they add and in the
spaces that they add value that would be harder for other people to add value
in their absence. That's where they kind of focus. And when it comes
to leadership, that is people development, that is helping people accomplish their goals
and getting people to feel psychologically in a way that says, hey, we're
here for a reason, let's get some good work done together. You can
rely on me, I can rely on you. If you can create those
kind of teams and those relationships with your people, they're less likely to feel
like they're being asked to do more with less. A great example is the
whole like you, who would you rather accomplish something with three people that you
get to choose or ten people to get as to you. I would take
the three people that I get to choose any day of the week, and
it's because I know that those people and I can get the world done together
versus ten people who I have to kind of like figure things out that that
could feel like I'm doing more of the work myself. Absolutely, and with
that it brings us to the end of this episode, this is hocking your
leadership. I'm Lorenzo and I'm Chris, and we'll talk to you all next time.