Is Your Work Invisible?

One of the quickest ways for frustration to creep into a business is when people feel like they’re carrying more than their fair share. You can spend all day working towards the same goal and still end up feeling like you’re doing it all yourself.

It might be a partner, a sibling, a business partner or someone who’s been with you since the beginning. You both care about the business, you both want it to succeed, but that doesn’t mean you’re always on the same page about who’s doing what.

And that’s where things can start to get frustrating.

One person is dealing with clients, making decisions and putting out fires. The other is keeping everything organised, managing the team, chasing things up and making sure all the little jobs don’t get forgotten. Neither person is sitting around doing nothing. But it’s easy to start looking at what the other person isn’t doing rather than recognising everything they are.

That’s usually when the little comments start. “Why am I always the one who has to organise that?” “How come nobody else has noticed this needs doing?” The problem is, by the time you’re having those conversations, you’ve probably been annoyed about it for a while. And often, the thing that finally brings it up isn’t even the real issue. It’s a small thing that happens to tip you over the edge after a week of feeling like you’re carrying too much.

I think one of the biggest mistakes people make in business is assuming that because they work together, they automatically understand each other’s responsibilities. You probably have a pretty good idea of what the other person does every day, but that doesn’t mean you’ve actually sat down and worked out where the responsibilities start and finish.

And it’s not always about dividing everything equally. One person might be better at managing the team, while the other is better at working with clients. That’s fine. The problem comes when those roles aren’t clear, or when one person keeps stepping in because it’s quicker than having the conversation.

Before long, you’re doing things you probably shouldn’t be doing, the other person is getting frustrated, and neither of you is particularly happy with how things are working.

Sometimes you just need to have an honest conversation about what’s no longer working. That might mean letting go of something you’ve always controlled or accepting that someone else is better suited to a particular part of the business. It also means being prepared to trust the other person to do things their way.

And if you need help, ask for it. Don’t wait until you’re frustrated and expect the other person to somehow know what’s going on.

These conversations aren’t always easy, particularly when there’s a relationship outside the business. But avoiding them doesn’t make the problem go away.

And really, that’s what it comes down to. You want to be able to finish the day feeling like you’ve made progress together, not like you’ve spent the whole day picking up after each other.