If you're a founder or managing a team, you're probably overwhelmed by requests from people who rely on you for feedback, comments, input, and approval. Every day, there's a new barrage of emails in your inbox, requiring you to respond so that somebody else can do their job.
It can slow down your whole operation if other people in the organization are stuck in the bottleneck you created. Before you know it, you're a small bootstrapped startup team moving as slowly as a large corporation.
You need to get things done and get shit shipped. Speed is crucial.
What's more, keeping your people waiting is demotivating and disempowering. Now, you're not just a slow-moving bootstrapped startup; morale is also dwindling, and you're running low on that magic energy that makes startups spark.
Chances are it won't get to that point since it's an extreme case. Nonetheless, the problem is real. How do you solve it?
I'm sure you could hire a consultant who'd charge you an arm and a leg and then tell you to empower people and give them more autonomy! Help them grow into leaders. Place more trust in them!
All this sounds good on paper, but how do you do it?
How Do You Unblock a Bottleneck?
I want to share a much simpler approach with you. You don't need to learn a new management technique or transform your personality: tell people to send you tasks with specific deadlines.
If you don't respond within the deadline, they automatically have your permission to move ahead however they see fit.
The best deadline for me is 24 hours (for urgent tasks) to 48 hours (for non-urgent tasks).
It's a simple system that you can start using right away. If you're super busy and stressed out, you could just copy & paste this and send it to your team members:
I realize that you sometimes require my input, feedback, or responses, and I often have responded slowly. I've been thinking about how I can remove myself as a bottleneck, and here's what I came up with:
From now on, whenever you send me an email that requires my input, response, feedback, or comment, please send it to me at least 48 hours in advance.
(If it's urgent, shorten the deadline to 24 hours, but state so at the beginning of the email.)
If I don't respond within the deadline, you have my full permission to move ahead however you see fit.
What Can You Expect When You Put This System in Place?
There are a bunch of advantages to doing things this way that we've experienced at Close:
- Team productivity goes up.
- There's less stress in your life.
- Your team members will appreciate you a lot more.
- Once this rule is established, people will adjust their expectations. They won't expect you to reply within four hours of receiving your email amid a busy day. And if there's occasionally something urgent, they'll now make it very clear that this requires your attention.
- You will make better judgment calls. Does this really require your input? It's now a lot easier to just say no and let others figure it out.
- You empower your team members to move forward and accomplish things when they don't hear back from you within a reasonable time.
Overall, things move a lot smoother and happen a lot faster. Working together is more fun, and you'll achieve much more as a team.
I've shared this tip with many founders and executives and have received a lot of great feedback on it. You can also check my podcast episode on "Feeling Overwhelmed," where I shared this tip with my friend and co-host, Hiten Shah.
