Needing a Resource Revelation

The leader pulled me aside before the working session I was facilitating began, echoing his earlier phone warning. He stressed that his team had limited resources and urged me to keep them from setting overly ambitious goals. He recounted instances where grand goals had to be scaled back due to a need for more resources to balance their regular duties with ambitious targets.

As the session progressed, two things became clear:

1. The team was brimming with expansive, often ingenious ideas, and they were confident that, with collective effort, they could manage their routine duties and still reach those high targets.

2. There needed to be a clear connection between the leader’s perception of resource constraints and his team’s outlook.

Curious about this disparity, I took the opportunity to dig deeper during breaks with some participants and over lunch with the leader. I discovered that the team had adequate resources, but the workload distribution was off. Some team members were overburdened, while others were underutilized, often doing irrelevant tasks.

The issue wasn’t a lack of resources but rather an inefficient allocation.

The root of the problem was the leader’s failure to ensure an effective workload distribution among team members.

This imbalance led to frustration among the overburdened members, while the underutilized ones were content to let their colleagues do the heavy lifting. It wasn’t that they were lazy or belligerent- they’d been ‘trained’ to act that way.

Effective, results-oriented teams understand the importance of proper resource allocation. They collaborate to assess all available resources, strategize the best ways to align these resources with the work and support each other throughout the execution process. This transparency and collaboration foster the commitment to push towards goals, even when faced with inevitable adversities. These conversations also enable leaders to evaluate resource gaps accurately and address them with the organization to secure the necessary support for the team’s success.

A Few Questions to Consider

1. What assumptions have you made about resource allocation in your leadership role?

2. How do you ensure the workload is fairly distributed among team members?

3. Have you ever faced a situation where your team had insufficient resources? How did you handle it?

Try This Quick Challenge

Take some time to review your team’s workload distribution and identify any areas where there may be an imbalance.

Disrupt Everything!

One of the best ways to help your people to uncover resources and set powerful goals is to be willing to Disrupt Everything!

Two years ago, I launched The Disruption Project at Vanderbilt University, transforming groundbreaking research into actionable strategies for teams and organizations. I’ve distilled these lessons into a dynamic presentation called Disrupt Everything! In the session, I challenge leaders and teams to become bold disruptors. They learn to question the status quo, take calculated risks, and deliver extraordinary results.

Trust me, this isn’t just another talk—it’s a catalyst for real change. Leaders and teams who embrace disruption see remarkable transformations in themselves, their colleagues, their organizations, and so much more!

Are you curious to learn more or ready to book a date? Contact my speaking agents, Michele Lucia or Canesha Appleton.

Together, we’ll explore how we can help you to build a culture of positive disruption.

Make it a great day!

Patrick