Going Beyond - What's In It for Me?
Recently, I worked with a client in my leadership practice that many considered successful. Stephanie was in line for a big promotion. She also started a volunteer program to assist her community. And she was starting her own consulting business as a side hustle.
Stephanie worried about having time for her kids and husband, but all of these opportunities were hard for her to pass up. Each invitation to speak at some group or to take on one small project at work seemed to open new opportunities.
Stephanie’s days also seemed long and involved constant switching. She was always rushing from meeting to meeting. She had to rearrange family events at the last minute, and her husband was happy to cover the kids’ after-school events. Even our hour-long coaching calls were usually only thirty minutes because she had another meeting pop up on her calendar.
But Stephanie felt fatigued. What could she do to get off this opportunity treadmill?
Three Key Questions
We are all super busy with overflowing calendars, tremendous to-do lists, and information overflowing from every device. Whenever I’m asked to add “one more thing”, I’ll start evaluating by asking myself three questions:
What’s in it for me? (Checking on skills, opportunities, and capacity)
What’s in it for us? (Who will I work with, and what’s our collaboration potential?)
What’s in it for others? (What is the broader impact and relevance of this new work?)
Let’s break each of these down.
What’s In It For Me?
Let’s say you are asked by your boss (or a client, if you are a consultant), to take on a new project.
What’s in it for me to take on this new work? Beyond the obvious “I get paid” answer, this question reminds me of deeper questions to consider. What new skills can I practice or new opportunities does this open up for me? What new contacts or new industries or domains does it introduce me to?
Also, how does taking on this new work impact my other commitments? Am I at my full capacity? If so, what other commitments do I need to delay, renegotiate, or release? No one has found the 25-hour day. You can’t create time. I’ve tried and the resulting sleep deprivation should never be seen as a badge of honor. You lose more than you realize in work quality, your health, and even relationships. So how can you reallocate your time and what else do you need to consider?
How does this work energize me? If I just think about the pay and there is no personal or professional joy in the work, you are likely to either gain a type of buyer’s remorse for taking on the work or you will be distracted by other opportunities that bring you that joy.
Stephanie realized that all of these opportunities helped tick many of these boxes, which made it hard for her to turn them down. However, did she consider who she would be working with and was there something she could leverage there?
What’s In It For Us?
What’s in it for us to work together? We spend over a third of each day “at work” and our need for social connections is well documented. Thinking about the “us” of work opens up other questions. How does this work support my boss/client? Who else will I be working with? Before you agree to the work, have you met all the people you will work with the most? Do you sense any potential connection or friction? Or do you see opportunities to collaborate well?
What’s in it for them to do this work and what about the work might mutually benefit us? Would there be times you could shift your work to someone else if you became overloaded. Would this shift allow them to learn new skills or open other opportunities for them? Would you both benefit in sharing some of the work?
Maybe you see some of these possibilities working with this new group. Stephanie realized that she truly enjoyed meeting new colleagues and learning from them. If you have a sense of the work and the people you will collaborate with and are excited by the possibility, what else should you consider?
What’s In It For Others?
What’s in it for others to do this work? Who benefits from the output of the work? How does the work benefit the larger organization? How does it benefit the clients and customers of the organization? Stephanie could easily answer this question for her new role at work, her new community program, and her new side hustle.
Who pays for this work and how? Who are your stakeholders for the new project? What are they willing to invest in you? What flexibility will they give you? What about your stakeholders in your other roles? What are they willing to invest in you? What flexibility can they give you to take on new opportunities? How does taking on new opportunities impact those other commitments?
The question of “impact” got Stephanie thinking more about what new opportunities she added to her schedule. She thought about her current commitments. She thought about the impact to family and herself. She wanted to be more present for all of it and not rush to the next meeting. She decided the switching cost from one opportunity to the next became too high. Stephanie started using these questions to say no to some opportunities as she also looked at the opportunity cost.
What about you? Do you consider new opportunities and what’s in it for you, the people you will work with, and the impact to others? Or do you just sign up because it’s a good opportunity?
Hope this helps,
Mark
P.S. To dig more into these questions and how it may impact other career choices, you can refer back to Find Career Trails Through Connections and Skip Networking and review this sections on “Always Be Curious” and “Always Build Connections.”
And if you have questions, just contact me.