June 15, 2021

158: Discover Your Optimal Work

11 minutes

There is something magical that happens when you do work you love that also taps into your talents. In a perfect world, everyone would spend all of their work time doing these activities. In reality, we also have other responsibilities. This is where the optimal work zone come in.

In this episode, I talk about how you and your team members can discover your optimal work - those things that you enjoy, tap your talents, and only you can do as part of your role. Because, when people spend the majority of their work time doing their optimal work, the productivity goes up, the positive atmosphere increases, and everyone just feels better.

The full episode guide includes worksheets to help you identify your optimal work zone, tasks that can be delegated, and areas to invest in personal development, along with activities to support your team to optimize your collective work. Get it when you join the Modern Manager community or purchase the full guide at www.themodernmanager.com/shop.

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Read the related blog article: Prioritize Working in Your Zone of Genius.

Key Takeaways:

In the book The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks describes four zones (1) The zone of incompetence, (2) the zone of competence, (3) the zone of excellence, and (4) the zone of genius.

Most people spend too much time in the zone of competence when these are activities that could be delegated.

Working in your zone of excellence and genius are great for different reasons. Excellence is things we are acknowledge for and highly talented (but don’t always enjoy) whereas Genius are tasks we enjoy and excel at.

Sometimes, a zone of genius does not align with your work responsibilities. It’s great to seek outside activities that put you into a state of flow.

Your optimal work is the overlap between things you’re good at, things you enjoy, and tasks or responsibilities specific to you or your role.

Delegate as much as you can that falls outside this venn diagram, especially tasks that are in your zone of competence and that are not unique to your role.

Encourage your team members to identify their optimal work and look for opportunities to shift responsibilities so that people can spend more time doing work that aligns with their talent and interests.

Additional Resources:

The Modern Manager’s Guide to Effective Delegation

The Big Leap, by Gay Hendricks

[email protected]

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By Mamie Kanfer Stewart

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