Episode Details

Most of us have what I call infinite jobs - where we could just keep working more hours and never quite get everything done. This week we look at practical ways to manage infinite jobs, improving our productivity while also regaining control over our hours.

Hello and welcome to episode 35 of the Leadership Today Podcast where each week we tackle one of today's biggest leadership challenges. This week we are looking at practical ways to manage infinite jobs - improving our productivity while also regaining control over our hours.

There are two types of jobs - what I call finite jobs and infinite jobs. Chances are at some point in your career you've had a finite job - one where you had set work hours, and were paid for every hour you worked. For example, retail jobs are typically finite jobs - you start your shift at a particular time, complete as much work as you can during your shift, then walk away at the end of your shift. Whatever work was left over is either there for you the next day, or handed across to someone else. And there's no expectation to work beyond the hours you're given - remember those days? In this environment, leaders assess the overall workload and determine the resources needed to deliver. If more work needs to be done, more resources are allocated.

Infinite jobs are quite different. These jobs have objectives to deliver - some being set up front, and some which emerge over time. Here you're not really paid by the hour. Your contract may specify that you're employed to work 38 or 40 hours, but you're really employed to deliver results. Contracts might refer to 'reasonable overtime' or something similar. Or you might be running your own business, where you just work the hours you need to deliver results. Infinite jobs are different because there isn't an end point. You could potentially keep working more and more hours and never 'finish' an infinite job. There's always more you could do - more clients to contact, more processes to improve, more development of people to undertake. The vast majority of leadership roles are infinite jobs, so chances are you're currently in an infinite job. And more finite jobs are either being automated or converted into infinite jobs. The reality of the modern workplace is that more and more of our work will not have a natural end point.

So how do you manage an infinite job? I remember when I first took on a leadership role. I had worked as a management consultant, so was pretty familiar with having an infinite job, but was able to manage my time reasonably well despite the high demands. But nothing had prepared me for leadership. My work hours began to increase. I started with a bit over 45 hours a week, but found it quickly rose to 50 hours, then 55, then 60 plus. I was getting into work earlier and earlier to try to get something done before my team arrived, then worked later and later to catch up on things at the end of the day. Then I would log in again after dinner, finding myself swapping instant messages with the rest of the leadership team until late at night, before crawling into bed and starting it all over again the next day. I felt exhausted and dissatisfied, and there was still more to do. When the weekend rolled around I'd sleep for much of Saturday morning and try to recover in time for Monday, but would find myself gradually become more and more worn down.

Eventually it dawned on me that there actually wasn't an end point to my job. There was never going to be a point where, as a leader, I could say "I'm finished" or "job done". In fact, the more hours of work I completed, the more work I generated for myself and others. I wasn't even approaching completion - even though I was hitting all my targets, I was pushing completion even further down the road. There was an ever-present level of stress and di