If Leaders Cannot See the Work, They Cannot Govern the Load

A leader reviews the work plan and sees that every assignment has an owner. The deadlines appear reasonable. The reports are being submitted. Yet one dependable person is remembering what everyone else forgets, anticipating problems, following up unresolved promises, calming anxious people, translating unclear instructions, repairing strained relationships and carrying decisions in his or her mind long after the meeting has ended.

That work may never appear in a job description, timetable, budget or performance score. The institution nevertheless depends upon it.

When leaders measure only visible activity, they do not merely overlook effort. They misunderstand organisational capacity. They may reward the person who presents the result while exhausting the person who made the result possible. They may approve a new initiative because the spreadsheet shows available hours, even though the people expected to deliver it are already carrying an invisible load.

If leaders cannot see the work, they cannot govern the load.

On 24 July, Harvard Business Review published an analysis of the invisible work draining capable employees. Its central warning is that hours, deadlines and output do not capture the continuous cognitive and emotional labour through which people plan, anticipate, remember, organise and hold work together. The leadership response is not simply to tell employees to become more resilient. It is to redesign how work is structured and distributed.

The article is timely…