3 Strategies to Manage Your Workload and Lead Effectively | Jen Recla

Feeling overwhelmed by your workload? You’re not alone. Leaders everywhere struggle with time management, prioritization, and setting boundaries. In this episode, leadership expert Jen Recla shares why your relationship with time is holding you back, and how to shift it so you can reclaim control over your schedule, focus on what truly matters, and avoid burnout.

Do you constantly feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Are you overwhelmed with meetings, emails, and never-ending to-do lists? You’re not alone. Many new managers find themselves drowning in tasks, unable to focus on leadership responsibilities. But what if the real issue isn’t time—it’s how you think about it?

In this episode, Jen Recla joins me to break down the mindset shift needed to navigate your workload effectively. We talk about shifting from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset with time, setting boundaries without guilt, and prioritizing tasks that actually move the needle. Plus, we tackle the unique challenges of transitioning from an individual contributor to a leadership role, and how to avoid falling into the trap of doing instead of leading.

By the time you finish listening, you’ll learn:✔️ Why “I don’t have time” is a lie, and what it really means✔️ How to transition from task execution to leadership without burnout✔️ Practical strategies to set boundaries and protect your time

Guest & Additional Links:🔹 Connect with Jen Recla on [LinkedIn]🔹 Jen’s workshop on navigating workload🔹 Books mentioned:

• Real Self-Care by Pooja Lakshmin

Taking Intentional Action: How to Choose the Life You Lead

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Transcript

Desiree Petrich (00:01.334)
Okay, Jen, I'm gonna let you tee up the conversation that we're having today. What is the number one complaint that you receive from leaders?

Jen Recla (00:09.527)
I don't have time. I don't have time to breathe. I don't have time for this meeting. I don't have time for this conversation. I don't have time to spend with my family. I work on the weekends. I work at nights. I'm overwhelmed, all of the things, but it's I don't have time. I'm too busy is usually the follow-up sentence that I hear.

Desiree Petrich (00:30.762)
Yes. Yes. Especially when it comes to taking care of ourselves, our health in regards to why we can't get other things done. It's like if I can't even manage the things that are actually needing to get done, like raising my family and leading my team and getting paperwork and documents sent in, how am I possibly supposed to make time for me? And that would be I was raising my hand right there when you said I don't have time. like, I don't have time.

Jen Recla (00:36.734)
yeah.

Jen Recla (00:45.873)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Jen Recla (00:54.427)
week.

Desiree Petrich (00:59.502)
So I'm excited to hear this from you because today's topic is navigating that workload so that you can't say that anymore or you wouldn't feel the need to say it. So just give us a quick, brief overview of what that means to you and then we can dive a little bit deeper into some of the tactics.

Jen Recla (01:08.752)
Yeah.

Jen Recla (01:17.625)
Yeah, you know, this all really started. have a leadership development background. teach a variety of skills in this space, and I was just struggling helping leaders because I kept getting, I don't have time, I don't have time. And so I took a step back to say, okay, well, that's what we need to hit first. We need to create space on your calendar. We need to give you back some time so that you can grow yourself, so that you can grow your teams, really get the best.

out of yourself, out of your team so you can get better results, because that's the ultimate goal here. And, you know, it really goes beyond just reclaiming time, getting time back on your calendar. It's also about mental clarity. It's about the emotional capacity to take on all the things that you need to take on as a leader. So when I started really digging deep into navigating workload, my own experience, things that have worked for me,

best practices, books I've read, teachings that I've done over the past several years, for me it really focused on having a good relationship with time. We tend to not have a great relationship with time, right? We think it's scarce, it seems to be more of an enemy than a friend to us, it controls us instead of us controlling it. So shifting our relationship with time so that we have more of a positive relationship with time.

That also entails shifting our mindset about time, shifting from that scarcity space to more of an abundance, focusing on what's important first instead of what's urgent. And then we can get organized. We can navigate, manage all the distractions that are happening around us and figure out a way to sustain success for the long term. So that's kind of the big buckets I focus on when I'm talking about navigating your workload.

Desiree Petrich (03:11.073)
So I probably looked rude as we're looking at each other on this recording, but I went and typed in, I said, the concept of time from the book, The Big Leap, because I don't know if you've read that by Gay Hendrix, but he has this concept or there is a concept and he talked about it called Einsteinian time, which means that we view ourselves as the source of time. And so we allow ourselves to actively manage and create time.

Jen Recla (03:20.721)
Mmm. Mm-mm.

Jen Recla (03:29.937)
Desiree Petrich (03:37.837)
for the things we want to do rather than feeling controlled by time, which is Newtonian time. And I couldn't remember which was which, which is why I had to look it up. But it's just this concept of we will make time for the things that are priorities as opposed to saying out loud that we don't have it. Like it's something that can be given to us.

Jen Recla (03:39.749)
Yes!

Jen Recla (03:45.124)
Yeah!

Jen Recla (03:50.84)
Exactly!

Yes, when you... 100%. And when people say they don't have time for something, what it really means is it's not important to you. And I've said that to people before and they get really defensive. No, no, no, it's important. No, it's not because if it was important, you would make time. And it's okay that it's not important, right? Part of this is figuring out what matters most to us. What is most important? And sometime the first step is to take, to look and see what are the things that I'm doing that really aren't important.

Where am I wasting my time? Where am I doing activities? Because urgency is driving me instead of my values, my purpose, the results that I'm trying to get, the most important projects.

Desiree Petrich (04:38.446)
I think something that I've learned this lesson over and over again is that when we're having conversations with other people, our priorities aren't going to match theirs. And so, for example, I would talk about reading anywhere from 60 to 100 books a year, and I could immediately see the panic or the annoyance on other people's faces where they're like, okay, but why? Or now I feel like you're telling me I need to read that much. And so I always preface it or immediately follow it with.

Jen Recla (04:48.037)
Yeah

Jen Recla (04:52.657)
Mmm.

Desiree Petrich (05:06.729)
It's a priority of mine to read that much, and it's not a priority for everyone. like this is this is no judgment on anything. It just happens to be a priority of mine. So I think it's really important when we're having conversations with other people, too, especially when it comes to the things that we do prioritize to not put that on their plate, because that can also create a lot of pressure, especially as a leader, because we're meant to be leading by example. So the things that we find to be a priority.

Jen Recla (05:10.778)
Yeah!

Desiree Petrich (05:34.271)
like reading, for example, we want to show that we're doing that. We want to show it's a priority and maybe potentially inspire someone else to want to do those things. But we should never put it on a pressure as a pressure on someone else who might have different priorities.

Jen Recla (05:48.377)
I think that's such a good point. And I think it's also the source of conflict that we see sometimes as leaders, conflict with the people that we lead, maybe even conflict amongst our team, because there are different priorities that individuals have. so making sure people are all on the same page and that there's a common shared goal that you're all working towards is an important component of navigating your work load. You need to identify what's most important collectively as well.

Desiree Petrich (06:18.893)
100%. And I think saying things out loud like this week I'm taking PTO with my family and that is a priority of mine. It's like speaking it out loud will take away any of the guilt that you have around something like that when you know someone sees it a different way. It's almost like putting up a boundary by saying a statement.

Jen Recla (06:24.965)
Mm-hmm.

Jen Recla (06:34.265)
Yeah.

Jen Recla (06:38.415)
Yeah, well, and that's how you sustain success for the long term. One of the things that I talk about when I'm talking about sustaining success is really strengthening your resiliency, your ability to be able to bounce back. And one of the components of that is self-care. And the number one thing to do is self-care. It's not bubble baths. It's not drinking that glass of wine, although that can certainly calm your nerves. It is about setting.

and keeping and communicating healthy boundaries. And it's so hard for many of us. There is a book that I love. It's called Real Self Care. It's by Pooja Lakshmi. I hope I'm pronouncing her name right. It's excellent. And she focuses a lot on the boundary piece in that book.

Desiree Petrich (07:26.893)
Okay, perfect. I haven't read that one. I'm gonna add it to the show notes if anyone wants to go and check it out. I love this conversation. I could talk about priorities and time management, especially when it comes to like my individual integrated leader life and home and work and how it all works together, especially when you throw kids into the mix and aging parents and all the things. But I wanna go a little bit more specific to the workplace. And I wrote down this question because I'm so excited to hear your answer, but.

Jen Recla (07:52.849)
Mm-hmm.

Desiree Petrich (07:55.872)
When it comes to an individual who was a contributor, say a graphic designer or an engineer, and they're on a team and they're doing tangible things with their hands, with their skill set, and they're good at it. And because they're good at it, they then get hired to lead the team of people who are doing it. But now they are no longer that individual contributor. The things that they're doing are less tangible. You can't exactly see the outcome.

So what does it look like to navigate the workload and what does that mindset shift have to look like when you're completely shifting from one area to the next?

Jen Recla (08:30.095)
Yes, this is such a great, I love this topic. So because we're in that technician role and then we move to leadership and instead of shifting to more leadership responsibilities, day-to-day management responsibilities, we just pile those on top of the technician role responsibilities that we had. So I think one of the first things to do when you're in that leadership.

role and you're trying to navigate what does this look like for me is figuring out what of those technician type responsibilities no longer serve me as a leader. They just don't make sense for me to do as a leader. And what do I do with those responsibilities? Do they get delegated to the person that maybe replaced my position?

If that position maybe doesn't exist anymore, how do I delegate them? What are the things that make sense for me to hold on to? But I have to recognize that in that technician role, I was maybe 80 to 100 % technician. Now in the leadership role, that might be about 20 % of my responsibility.

And then what does it mean to manage the day to day? What does it mean to truly be a leader? It means that I'm coaching. It means that I'm establishing one-on-ones with my staff. I'm leading team meetings. I'm building relationships and connecting with stakeholders. So figuring out what are those responsibilities look like and really looking to your leader to help you figure that out and prioritize that. But I think one of the questions you ask yourself

You know, one of the biggest opportunities with navigating workload as a leader is meetings. We have so many meetings on our calendar. So in this new role as a leader, does it make sense for me to be part of this meeting? Am I adding value or is it adding value to me? Is this one of those opportunities to delegate to someone on my team? And it could be a growth opportunity for them.

Jen Recla (10:30.017)
Or am I joining this meeting and it's not a regular team meeting, but the rest of my team is there? Why are five or six or seven of us all there? Maybe it's time to focus on just one representative. So as you're discerning what really matters, what really is important, what is really helpful for me as a leader, those are the kinds of questions to ask yourself. But I think it really starts with defining what are the technician activities that I'm doing.

What are the management, the day-to-day management, and then what are the leadership responsibilities I need to take on? And that manager or leadership piece, that's gonna be about 80 % of your work now.

Desiree Petrich (11:11.661)
So two things. First is I recently did an episode on Death by Meeting by Patrick Lincione. So if you want to dive deeper into this topic around meetings, I'm going to link to that episode in the show notes. It's a great overview of his book, but also some additional thoughts. And you're absolutely right about the meetings and saving time for your team. And A, they're going to appreciate you for that because a lot of people, I posted about this on LinkedIn a little while ago and

Jen Recla (11:18.236)
yes!

Jen Recla (11:36.367)
Mm-hmm.

Desiree Petrich (11:40.994)
the number of people in the comments who said, the meeting that could have been an email. It's like there was over 100 comments and I swear that was at least 50 % of them. But on the other side of this conversation and what I wanted to ask you about is that 20 % where you still get to be the technician. Are we choosing things? Is it even a choice of the things that you love to do so you don't lose that love of your job? Is it the things that are

Jen Recla (11:45.967)
Right?

Jen Recla (12:08.241)
you

Desiree Petrich (12:11.191)
harder for everyone else and so you do them because no one else wants to. What is what do you fill that 20 % with to make sure that you're not resenting your role that you no longer get to do those things?

Jen Recla (12:21.551)
Yeah, that's such a great question. It's probably a combination of both. Yes, 100 % you want to do the things that energize you and bring you joy. And I hope that you took this leadership position because a vast majority of that does energize you, does bring you joy. And I also think at times, sacrificing.

showing the team that you're willing to do an activity that nobody else wants to do. I've totally done that. I led a team of five, six individuals at my last corporate role and it was a juggle. So I would choose some activities like designing and leading workshops, more of that technician role, because I truly loved it. I also did it because it kept me close to the work so that I could still understand what my team's going through.

It got me in front of people as well. But then there were activities that I would do that were not my favorite because no one else on the team wanted to do them. Volunteering to be part of a meeting that I knew added value, but I also knew the rest of the team had a lot on their plate right now and I could give an hour a week to be a part of this. Or I could lead this small project because the team was overworked.

at this time. It's just you don't want to pile that up. So then all of a sudden you're doing 80 % of the technician. And it's not to be a martyr either, right? It is truly to demonstrate that your team that, hey, I'm willing to help out. I'm willing to pitch in and stay connected to the work as well without it overwhelming you. Because if it overwhelms you, then you're not really going to be able to serve your team. So.

a lot of leadership stuff, it's balance and nuance. And you're experimenting, you're figuring out what happens along the way, getting feedback from your team, getting feedback from your leader, know what's working, know what's not working. And you just keep trying. And remember, you are a work in progress. I am a work in progress. I've been doing this for 15 years. I've led teams for a really long time. I am not perfect. I know there's always opportunity to grow and get better.

Jen Recla (14:38.821)
and you're just learning along the way. So I think part of this too is just giving yourself some space and grace with that.

Desiree Petrich (14:44.782)
The next question I had you actually led into it perfectly because if I were to say what's the number one buzzword in corporate companies right now, I'm curious what you think it would be, but in my opinion, it's burnout.

Jen Recla (14:55.057)
Mmm.

Jen Recla (14:59.357)
gosh, yeah. Well, that's one I've been hearing for a while now. It's something that is probably the last 18 months to two years, something like that. I remember when this started crapping up in the media. I was hearing it over and over again with people that I worked with. I started to see all these white papers and these reports on burnout and how it was so much bigger than self-care, which is I think the original message is,

Desiree Petrich (15:04.225)
Yeah.

Jen Recla (15:28.485)
We've got to give people time, space, encourage them to do self-care. So let's do yoga classes and have meditation and offer employee assistance services and create this wellness space, all of that. Not saying that that can't support, but it's like putting a bandaid on a broken arm. It is not getting to the root cause of the problem. And really with burnout, it's much more systemic. Yes, you as an individual have

a responsibility in taking care of yourself, right? And mitigating burnout when you can, but it's also your leader. It's the team environment. It's the organization. It's the structure that has been put in place. It's policy. It's much bigger than any one person can tackle. And individuals that are leaders, they certainly have a huge responsibility in creating an environment where people can grow and thrive, but they can't do it alone.

Desiree Petrich (16:27.595)
Yeah. Okay. So with that being said, my question was, and now it kind of maybe sounds like it's not something that one person can handle, but what are some of the signs that you can see in yourself? Right. You said you don't want to end up with 80 % of all the work on your plate when you're supposed to be leading. But what are the signs you can see in yourself and in others when someone is in, if we tie it back to the topic, navigating their workload?

Jen Recla (16:42.718)
yeah.

Yeah.

Desiree Petrich (16:53.697)
Like what are the red flags? What are the things we're looking for both in ourselves and in others?

Jen Recla (16:57.925)
Yeah. I don't remember the exact definition that the WHO organization set for burnout, but it's something along the lines of chronic stress. So it's not just, I'm working on this project and it's stressful and I've got this deadline at the end of the week. So this week I'm a little bit more stressed than normal. It is consistent stress that is happening over time. So it's this project after project that I'm feeling this. And some signs you might see in yourself or others.

I'd say the top sign that you see is physical health. You're getting sick more. You're feeling more tired. You're struggling with coming up with answers to questions that, I mean, you'd snap your finger and you'd know the answer before. So you might see delays in responses in yourself or others, more fatigue in yourself and others.

Maybe if you are a remote worker, people are not turning their cameras on. That's not always a sign. But if the culture has been most people show up and they have their cameras on, and all of a sudden I'm seeing more and more people not have their cameras on, that could be a sign. People calling out for work, making simple mistakes on things, but seeing it repeatedly that you didn't see before.

I know some signs that I've seen in individuals I've worked with before is the responses to emails. So I start to notice tone is changing in their responses to emails. Behavior that's just not typical. This is why getting to know your team is so important. Building rapport, building trust, getting to know your people, checking in with them regularly. So in those one-on-ones that you have with your team, which 100 %

Desiree Petrich (18:31.517)
Hmm.

Desiree Petrich (18:42.573)
percent.

Jen Recla (18:51.601)
I highly recommend you have once a week or once every other week, one-on-ones with every employee. And part of that conversation is just checking in with them as a human. How are they doing? How's their family doing? What's going on in their life? How can you support them? So that's really important. So getting to know your people and then looking for those signs that are out of the ordinary. And then for yourself, I would say, are you quick to some of the emotions, anger, frustration? Are you?

getting into that space regularly with people. Do you notice yourself snapping? Maybe it's not at work, maybe it's at home. You notice yourself, I'm snapping at the dog more, I'm snapping at the kids more. I put my cell phone in the fridge. That's happened like three times this last week, right? So it's those behaviors that are out of the ordinary. And I say that and it's funny, but I remember when I had very, very young children doing similar things like that and it was a sign.

Desiree Petrich (19:42.221)
him.

Jen Recla (19:50.043)
that I needed to take a break. I needed to step out because something was not working in this situation.

Desiree Petrich (19:55.534)
Well, I laughed because I almost washed my cell phone this morning because I thought that putting it in the laundry basket to transfer it from the upstairs to the downstairs was a good idea. And I heard a thunk, thank goodness. Otherwise it would have been washed. So maybe that's a sign. Yeah, so another sign that I heard recently that really spoke to me is I'm a huge one for, well, when I was in that space of volunteering for things, whether it was volunteering to go to a meeting, volunteering.

Jen Recla (19:58.65)
haha

Jen Recla (20:03.249)
you

my gosh. Disaster. Yeah.

Jen Recla (20:21.721)
Yes! Yes.

Desiree Petrich (20:23.637)
to lead a project or to be part of a project. And as soon as someone starts to feel burnt out, they start to set more of those boundaries. If you're a typical listener of this podcast, you've heard me talk about the four tendencies and obliger is one of them. They are the people that are going to essentially be held accountable to anyone else's expectations of them. And so they're always going to be the first one to raise their hand, the first one to try and do things for other people.

Obliger Rebellion is when they've hit that point of doing things for so many people for so long that they're just like, I'm over this. Then they just won't do anything for anyone. And Obliger is the biggest group of individuals. And so I just, always have to laugh when I see that. It's the exact response that you would expect. It's like, but you've always done this. You've always been the first one to raise your hand. And then they're just not interested anymore at all.

Jen Recla (21:11.257)
Yeah.

Jen Recla (21:17.861)
Yeah.

Desiree Petrich (21:18.487)
There's so many signs. I think we could continue to go on and on for days on the signs of burnout. But like you said, burnout, those are the symptoms of the problems that are happening. It's not the systemic issues that are coming out to play. We're seeing weeks or even months of things that have been building up when we start to see those symptoms. So the goal would be not to overcome those symptoms, but to put systems in place at the beginning of the

Jen Recla (21:23.994)
yeah.

Jen Recla (21:46.289)
Yes. Yeah, mean, creating, setting up the environment from the beginning. And I think that the things that stand out to me to really help leaders, new leaders, current leaders, even aspiring leaders, because you can do this with your teams, whether you're a formal leader or not. But one of the most important pieces is empathy. Really stepping into your work environment with a people first mentality.

Desiree Petrich (21:47.031)
process so that it's not getting to that point.

Jen Recla (22:16.283)
We are all humans. We're not barriers. We're not objects trying to get in each other's way. We're all just trying to do the best that we can given the resources, given the access to those resources that we have. So it's that empathy piece, leaning into a growth mindset, cultivating that growth mindset on your team, which is we're gonna make mistakes, we're gonna fail at times, and how can we learn?

from those? How can we use those opportunities to get better, to continuously improve? And I think another important piece in all of this is really helping your teams to strengthen resiliency and focus on what they're really good at. What are the talents that energize them, that bring them joy? Do more of that. Because that's the best way to mitigate burnout is doing the things that

that really truly energize you and light you up.

Desiree Petrich (23:15.533)
Yeah. So working genius, it's 80 % productivity and 20 % personality. But the ultimate goal of this assessment is what brings you joy and energy at work? What pieces of projects, what pieces of the process of work do you get joy and energy from and what frustrates you? If you are spending time in the things that frustrate you, you will burn out. It's not a question. It is a certainty. So if anyone is interested in doing a working genius assessment or want to do one with their team, please reach out to

Jen Recla (23:18.308)
yeah!

Desiree Petrich (23:45.76)
Me, I would love to help you set that up. But I love this conversation, Jen, but I know that we are not done because we're going to bring you back in the next episode to talk about a few other topics. So if this is step one, if understanding what it means to clear up our time and to utilize our resources and to, you know, all the things, put our boundaries in place, all the things we just talked about, if that's step one for a new leader, what is the next step?

Jen Recla (24:15.631)
Yeah, I think once you can create that mental bandwidth for yourself, creating a psychologically safe environment is so important. And I think the number one skill to really create that environment is strengthening your feedback, creating a positive culture of feedback where employees feel valued, appreciated, and there is space to give and receive feedback in a really productive

and helpful way. So I think that's the next place to really dig into.

Desiree Petrich (24:52.108)
Amazing. So I'm going to bring Jen back in the next episode. We're going to talk about how to build that psychological safety through feedback. But first, Jen, you mentioned one book, The Real Self-Care. I just recently read Bye, Back Your Time by Dan Martel. I also just reread Atomic Habits by James Clear. I'm currently rereading the Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin about habits.

Jen Recla (25:11.164)
great.

Jen Recla (25:17.905)
Mm-hmm.

Desiree Petrich (25:17.933)
creation. so are there any additional books that you have read that just kind of set off a spark in you to really try and navigate your workload and your time?

Jen Recla (25:26.097)
Yeah. So first things first, this is a Covey book. It's not a new one and it is focused solely on habit three of the seven habits of highly effective people. That's the one that kickstarted all of this for me about 15 years ago. It was that book. That gets you into the mindset. So I love that book. There's another book that's called Getting Things Done that's very

Desiree Petrich (25:37.442)
Mmm.

Jen Recla (25:53.745)
It gives you some really practical, actionable strategies. So I think pairing those two together are really great. And those are the two that I'd

Desiree Petrich (26:05.133)
Awesome. And then I also, my sister borrowed some books from me a million years ago and just gave them back to me. And The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy was in there. And so that's going to be next on my list. So what I'm trying to get at with these books is that if you are still feeling overwhelmed, if this conversation between Jen and I got you really excited about this concept of getting your time back and navigating in a way that allows you to put your priorities first, but you still just you're like, okay, that's great. And I'm excited, but I don't know where to start.

Jen Recla (26:11.589)
Yeah.

Jen Recla (26:14.938)
great.

Desiree Petrich (26:34.847)
Whether you reach out to Jen on LinkedIn or myself on LinkedIn, if you pick up one of these, I think we just mentioned like seven books that you can get for yourself because it really does take yourself creating that priority to take care of yourself so that you can then set those priorities and boundaries within your team to navigate. So anything else, Jen, on this topic of navigating your workload?

Jen Recla (26:58.253)
Yeah, the one thing I'll say is I'll share this link with you. It is a workshop recording that I did on this topic that gets into the nitty gritty, gives you very specific tips, resources, tools that you can use. So if this is something you want to dive into, that's going to give you more of those practical, actionable strategies.

Desiree Petrich (27:19.863)
Amazing, okay. I just watched an episode of Bones where they had on like this kids science YouTube person and he goes, amazing. And now my husband keeps catching me saying it like that and it's not on purpose. But I'm going to link Jen's workshop and I hope that if you are excited by this topic, you're gonna go check it out. So all the books, all of the links will be in the show notes and until next time, thank you so much, Jen. I can't wait to have a conversation with you around

Jen Recla (27:28.815)
Hahaha

Jen Recla (27:32.474)
Yeah.

Desiree Petrich (27:49.855)
our next topic, which is feedback.

Jen Recla (27:51.973)
Awesome, thanks for having me.