One of the constant challenges I see for entrepreneurial CEO’s is the sheer number of distractions they face every day. An effective barometer of this is the amount of “stuff” on their desk at any given time. Among the questions I like to ask are the following:

“What’s on your desk right now? How long has it been there? Who put it there? Is that where it belongs? Where will it go next? When?”

The enduring problem of upward delegation is captured in the classic article “Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?” by William Oncken, Jr. and Donald L. Wass. (Want a copy? Send me an email at joe@ajstrategy.com). In it, the authors describe how managers and yes, even senior leaders move items they could and should handle, upward and onto the desk of the CEO. And while CEOs are often complicit in this (after all, they know how these should be handled, they’re pretty good at it and at some level, there is a visceral enjoyment in accomplishing these tasks). Left unchecked, it can have the CEO doing everyone’s job but theirs.

An example of this occurred during a recent client visit. The CEO and I were meeting in his office. He was excited to tell me of his recent hire of a human resource professional, whose first task was to complete job descriptions for each of their 120 employees. A short while later, the HR leader came into the office with a stack of documents under her arm. She announced that the job descriptions had been completed and she was delivering these to the CEO.

As she turned to leave, he asked her how they looked. “They’re not very good”, was her over the shoulder reply.

As he extended his arms across the desk to retrieve the items, I advised him to refrain from doing so. “Did you hear what she said?”, I asked. “If these are not yet good enough in her judgement, they are not yet ready for you to see”.

Knowing this client well, I knew exactly what he would do with these “not very good” documents. He would bring them home that evening, spend hours marking them up and then return the now improved documents back to the HR Director. Which would be the direct opposite of how this process should work!

A senior team member's effectiveness can be measured by what they bring to, remove from, or prevent from reaching the CEO’s desk. Only “finished staff work” should be passed along for CEO review, comment and approval. Anything less is suboptimal.

So, what’s on your desk?

For more information on ways to improve the performance of your leadership team, contact me at joe@ajstrategy.com.