Sustainable Organisations Need Sustainable Leaders

What would happen if you didn't sustain yourself, or got hit by the proverbial bus?

Working yourself into the ground isn't going to help anyone, least of all you. Especially if one day, you can't go on and everyone is left to fend for themselves.

Understandably, senior leaders carry too much for a range of reasons. They are happy to take on more than most, too busy to delegate, worry about adding to the workload of their teams, unsure about the capability of their people to fully let go, concerned about the risks of things going drastically wrong.

Let's explore - there are a few potential takes on this.

▶️ Life would go on, people would step up, all would be well (in which case you've set up succession well, and it follows that you can reset how you work and lower stress levels)

▶️ There would be huge disruption, but a replacement would be found and the organisation will muddle through and recover. (Some room for improvement but the world would keep turning)

▶️There would be a slow decline and eventual failure (in which case there's a strong case for succession planning and capability improvement)

▶️ The place would immediately crumble. The cause lost. Doors close. (in which case you have a significant single point sensitivity risk to overcome, which is far broader problem than your workload and stress levels alone)

Some questions to consider:

• How can you start passing the baton now to help yourself 𝘢𝘯𝘥 manage risk?

• How can you share the load that you're carrying, and develop others at the same time?

• What is your unique contribution - that if you did nothing else would be transformative for the dept/business?

• If you left tomorrow, what are the things you currently do, that no one else can?

That's what to focus on now, and delegate the rest - to sustain both yourself and your organisation and set everyone up for a strong future.