Are Your People Busy Good? Busy Bad? Or Busy Doing Nothing?

Can you remember the stock answer a few years ago when you asked someone how they were? 

The vast majority would say, ‘Fine.’  

One or two would put their hand to their back, feign hobbling along a bit and croak, ‘Surviving.’  

Unless you get in a black cab in London (where ‘surviving’ is still in vogue), those days are pretty much gone. Instead, it seems that everyone is ‘busy.’ To clarify, people now extend that to ‘busy good’ or ‘busy bad’.  

Someone recently told me they have a new role. Keen to do well, she responds to anything she’s given with, “Yes, I can.” The only potential problem is that five different leaders are dishing out tasks, and, of course, each one thinks that their job is the most important one to complete. 

Not because they’re mean people (in this organisation, ‘mean people’ just don’t seem to exist – honestly!) More likely, it’s because they’re unaware of the situation. 

So, what should she do? Currently, she’s riding high on the excitement of promotion, which has brought new, interesting and brain-challenging work. Adrenaline will be coursing through her, which, in reasonable amounts, isn’t a bad thing. And the pride and praise that come with doing a good job will keep energy levels up … for a while.  

However, being constantly busy without any opportunities to reset can negatively impact our physical and mental health: 

• The buzzing head gives way to headaches 
• The pleasant tiredness and good night’s sleep become a night of fretting and pacing 
• The excitement tips into overwhelm – we go from thriving to just surviving and, eventually, burnout 

 And it can happen to anyone. Carol Vorderman recently posted on social media, ‘After working 7-day weeks for as long as I can remember, I finally burned out just over two weeks ago, and I ended up overnight in hospital.’  

Long before people reach this stage, they must listen to their heads and bodies, taking time to stop and reflect on what’s happening and plan to manage their workload better. This is easily said but not always easily done, especially if people are new to their roles, in a particularly competitive business, or trying to meet challenging targets.   

This is where leaders come in. The first thing to establish is where people would put themselves on a 1-5 scale of busyness. By creating a culture where people can talk openly and honestly about their workload without fear of being judged, you can then start to provide the right levels of support. 

Asking people how busy they are is also helpful if they can identify any possible reasons for this. Now, you may not wholly agree with either their self-assessment or their reasoning, but before you dive in and give your two penneths, remember that listening to learn and understand builds far greater levels of trust than listening to win or fix. 

Helping your people to shift from being ‘busy bad’ to ‘busy good’

There are a hundred and one reasons why people might be struggling with workload, and we can’t go into all of them, but here are a couple of ideas: 

Prioritising  

When people have a to-do list as long as their arm, it can be tricky to see the wood for the trees… or the vitally important piece of work that impacts others from the jobs that seem easier and quicker. Eisenhower’s Principle is a helpful tool for getting tasks out of your head and onto a piece of paper while, at the same time, helping people prioritise.  

Someone who feels ‘busy bad’ might be tempted to put everything in the ‘important and urgent’ box, so, as a leader, it’s worth going through the process with them for a while to ensure they’re applying rational thinking. Chatting through why specific tasks go in particular boxes will help them better understand how to prioritise for themselves going forward. For example, ‘This task is part of a bigger job, and once you’ve done your bit, the next person can crack on with theirs.’ 

Team approach 

With home working, people can tend to believe they’re an island. If you don’t see others in person often, it can be more challenging for leaders to spot behaviours out of character, possibly signalling overwhelm. 

A team approach: 

• Encourages everyone to look out for each other’s workload and wellbeing 
• Ensures everyone pitches in to make sure projects get over the line  
• Creates a sense of belonging, which is as important to people nowadays as getting their basic needs met 
• Permits folks to kindly challenge others if they hear comments such as, ‘Well, that’s not part of my role.’ 

One of the most successful ways to build a positive team culture is to encourage people to have chats that don’t focus on business-as-usual (BAU) transactional tasks. Instead, make time for people to make ‘warm connections’. How about a Friday morning cuppa, croissant, and catch-up? 

Ensuring your people who are ‘busy doing nothing’ start to get sh*t done

Procrastination   

On every programme I’ve run over the past few years, I would say at least a quarter of people self-identify as procrastinators. The problem is that what started as a relatively small task has now become huge – in their heads.  

Eisenhower’s Matrix is also helpful here, as it lets people see that few things start as urgent and important. If they end up there, it tends to be because we’ve let them! 

Another thing that might help is to create a culture of brain farting (or whichever phrase works for you and your team). Whenever people get a new, maybe slightly daunting, piece of work, they immediately record their thoughts onto paper or electronic notes. They may not do anything for a little while afterwards, but they’ve made a start and formulated a plan. 

Perfectionism

It’s important to have high expectations; of course it is. But there’s an increasing trend, particularly amongst the younger people that I see in organisations, to:  

• Want their work to be perfect 
• Hate making mistakes 
• Not take on tasks if they feel they can’t do them with 100% precision. 

Having a chat with the team or individuals to agree on what needs to be ‘as perfect as possible’ and what doesn’t helps to allay the fears of getting told off. You don’t want everyone slowly slipping down the slope of slapdashery, but sometimes, good is good enough. 

Making sure your people who are currently ‘busy good’ continue to be  

There are plenty of blogs and articles out there explaining the benefits of being ‘busy good’. As a leader, awareness of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s ‘Flow Model’ also helps you know who in your team is genuinely satisfied, enjoying the challenges, and managing their workload well. 

I have just one piece of advice for this group. A while ago, someone told me that they’d won an award for being an amazing team member. Shortly afterwards, things started to become more challenging in different areas of her life, and this led to the day job becoming harder. However, because she’d recently been recognised, she didn’t feel that she could speak to her manager or ask for help from her workmates—until everything came tumbling down. 

Regular little chats with everyone, including those who seem to be doing really well, are vital. Because you just never know. 

If you’d like support with the leadership of your team – and to get everyone into the ‘good busy’ state, email Doug – doug@laughology.co.uk - and he’ll talk you through how we can help you.

About the author: When Sarah Creegan chose to leave school at 16, she was told by three separate teachers that ‘she wouldn’t amount to much’. Since then, she’s had a varied career, working with a range of organisations before becoming a head teacher. Sarah’s learning and development knowledge, coupled with her leadership skills and experience, have also stood her in good stead when designing and delivering programmes in businesses and organisations.