When overwhelm threatens to bring you down as a COO, what are you to do? What are your options?
“You know how hard it is to keep this all together?”, he pleaded. “There is so much to manage. Sometimes it just feels like too much!”
I understood Jeff’s pain. He was a successful COO managing all the moving parts of a business that he loved. He was passionate about his team. He saw the vision of his CEO so clearly that he knew he could bring it all to life and make it even better. He was happy in his role. He was just overwhelmed.
Being a COO or 2nd-in-Command is extremely challenging and overwhelming, even on the best of days. When you consider the amount of people who rely on you, your decisions and how you manage the entire team, it’s a lot. And often, to make things worse, another request comes across your desk or through your phone as a text message with a, “I hate to bother you but can you?” There’s no shame in feeling at wits end when it all becomes too much.
The thing to remember is that you are but one person. Yes, albeit, you are the person at the centre of it all, the one who is in charge of many departments and roles in the company. You have a lot on your shoulders, and the responsibility is great. It’s not that you complain regularly about it. In fact, you don’t because you love your work. You love the contribution you are making. You love that you are creating an impact and advancing the vision of the company with small baby steps, and yes, with big decisions too. You are at the core of it all and you love it.
What you don’t love is being asked, or even expected, to not have a bad day, to not feel overwhelmed and exhausted, to not be valued and appreciated, although you would never tell anyone that openly if you didn’t absolutely trust them to sworn secrecy.
So, what do you do? How do you manage the overwhelm and being pulled in so many directions every single day? Here is what I have found that works to calm the chaos and bring order back to your day.
1. Establish Your Greatest Priorities: What is at the core of what is most important? What has to be done, taken care of, addressed and managed? Focus on those things. What is secondary and can wait? Can it be postponed, delegated or completely removed as an action task? By recognizing that not all things are important, you will be able to say no to things that don’t move you and the business forward, while honouring what comes first.
2. Give Yourself Time to Breathe: This is probably the last thing you want to hear since you want to go, go, go. You want to be efficient, effective and not waste a moment of your time. You want to ensure that you can demonstrate how accountable you are for the time you have to contribute to the growth and success of the business. But, and there’s a big but here, you can’t possibly do it all if you are not stopping to breathe. You have to give yourself time to take a break, hit reset during your day, to rest your mind and body. Even if it’s for 10 minutes every 2-3 hours, take a break. Get away from your desk. Turn off your phone. Breathe. Rest. Hit pause with a Do Not Disturb promise to yourself.
3. Share Openly When You Are Struggling: There is nothing worse than trying to do something on your own when you are at wits end. It’s perfectly ok to reach out to a coach, a mentor, a trusted advisor to let them know that you need help. You don’t have to go to upper management as a first recourse. Turn to your peer group, your alliances with those who understand what you are going through. They will be the ones who can give you the space and venting room to be honest, open and then collect yourself to find the solutions and resources to help you move forward. Don’t ever think you have to do it alone. In fact, you can’t. Therefore, reach out and know that you are supported.
Being at the centre of a business in your important role is no easy task. But I see you. I understand what you are going through. You are not alone.
Take care of you as you take care of the business and everyone who relies on you to make it all very successful. You are appreciated. Thank you for all that you do!
