“I know I have to work differently,” Sharon stammered. “I just can’t seem to get everything done. I am pretty frustrated.”

“Sharon, what would you do differently, if I only allowed you to work one day per week?”

She chuckled at the prospect of the idea. “No, way!”

I lifted my eyes and slowly nodded my head up and down. “Think about it. Describe to me what you would do if you came in Monday morning and knew that your team had to work the rest of the week without you?”

Sharon looked down, then up to the left. “I guess I would meet with each one of my supervisors and make sure they knew what needed to get done that week.”

“And what else?”

“Well, I would ask them if they knew of any problems that would prevent them from getting the job done.”

“And knowing that you would not be there to solve the problem for them that week, how would you discuss the issue?”

“Well, we would probably talk about what they would have to do if the problem actually happened, or maybe how to prevent the problem.”

“So, tell me, Sharon. Which one of your team members could you have that discussion with today?” -TF