Being Good at Your Job Shouldn’t Mean Doing Everybody Else’s

I believe in doing my job well. If I see a problem, I want to understand it. If something isn’t working, my mind starts figuring out why. That’s part of what helped me build a career in operations. I could see where a process was breaking down and think through what needed to change.

But there’s something I’ve had to be careful about. Just because I can see how to fix something doesn’t mean I need to become responsible for fixing it every time.

When you’re dependable, people remember. They know you’ll follow through. They know you’ll figure it out. That trust can create opportunities. It can also mean you keep getting work that nobody’s clearly responsible for, on top of the work you already have.

At first, that can feel good. You’re being included. People need your input. Your manager trusts you with things that matter. But eventually, you have to look at what’s actually happening. Are you getting opportunities to grow, or are you becoming the person everybody relies on to keep the same problems from falling apart?

Those can look a lot alike when you’re in the middle of them.

This is where the Institutional Literacy pillar in Becoming the Blueprint matters. I have to understand how the organization actually works. Who owns the decision? Who has the authority to change the process? Who’s being held responsible for the result? And why does the work keep coming back to me?

If I keep stepping in without asking those questions, I can help keep a broken process running for a long time. Everybody gets what they need today. The underlying problem stays right where it is.

I don’t think the answer is to stop helping. I wouldn’t want to work with somebody who sees a problem and walks past it because it isn’t in their job description. Sometimes the team needs you to step in. Sometimes taking on something unfamiliar is exactly how you learn what you’re capable of. I started in an entry-level job. I didn’t know where my ability to solve problems could take me. Getting involved mattered.

But helping with a problem and permanently owning it are different commitments. We need to be able to say that out loud.

If I’m taking on another priority, I need to understand what happens to the priorities I already have. If everything still needs to get done by the same deadline, then we haven’t made a decision about the work. We’ve just added more of it.

That conversation doesn’t have to be confrontational. It can be as simple as, “I can help with this. Here’s what I’m already working on. What needs to move?” Or, “I can get us through this situation, but who’s going to own it going forward?”

I’d rather have that conversation early than agree to everything and end up frustrated with people who don’t know what I’ve taken on. They may see the finished work. They may not see what it took to get there or what I had to put aside.

That connects to Strategic Positioning, too. I need to pay attention to what my work is preparing me for and what people are learning to associate with me. Being known as somebody who can solve difficult problems can help my career. Being the permanent backup for everybody else’s responsibilities can leave me very busy without moving me toward the work I want to do.

More work by itself doesn’t tell me which one is happening. I need to look at the scope, the decisions I’m getting to make, the skills I’m developing, and whether there’s an actual conversation about where this is going.

As a leader, I have a responsibility here as well. I can’t keep handing work to the strongest person on the team just because I know they’ll get it done. That might make my day easier, but it doesn’t build capacity in anybody else. If the same person always has to step in, I need to look at the training, expectations, workload, or process that’s making that necessary.

And if I’m the person who keeps stepping in, I need to be honest about my part in it. Sometimes I may be taking ownership before anybody’s even asked me to. Sometimes I can see the answer faster than I can explain it, so I just do it myself. That gets the work done. It also makes it harder for me to hand it back later.

I still want to be dependable. I still want people to trust my work. But I want that trust to include being able to tell the truth about what the work requires.

If you’re carrying more than you can reasonably manage, start with the work itself. What are you responsible for? What have you picked up? What keeps coming back? Then have the conversation about priorities and ownership.

You don’t have to wait until you’re exhausted to make it clear what you can take on.