Lessons From The Court: Measuring Bandwidth
By: Jen O’Meara, Ph.D
As you might imagine, I play a lot of racquetball. I know, however, that I cannot play every day. The body has physical limitations. The lack of rest and recuperation leads to dehydration, fatigue, microtears, and a host of other overuse injuries. The brain has limitations as well. It needs recovery time to ward off burnout, decision fatigue, disruptions to the sleep cycle, and other symptoms of cognitive stress. Elite athletes know and respect these limitations: they understand that their bodies and minds do not have unlimited bandwidth. Their respect for these limitations ultimately allows them to be at their best when they do practice and compete.
We often hear that leaders must have a good understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses. This makes perfect sense, as such an understanding allows leaders to take on tasks or projects at which they are likely to succeed. What we hear less frequently, however, although it is no less important, is that leaders must also have a good understanding of their own bandwidth. In this context, bandwidth is not a measure of skill or intelligence; rather, it is a measure of how much an individual can realistically complete at a high level in a given time frame.
We have all known people who have trouble saying no. People pleasers, yes men, yes women — call them what you will — these are typically well-intentioned individuals. They get themselves into trouble, however, by agreeing or volunteering to simply do too much. It’s not that they lack the ability to complete the individual tasks at hand: it’s that they’ve loaded themselves down with so many simultaneous tasks that they simply can’t finish them all in the allotted time.
A leader’s misjudgment of their own bandwidth can be detrimental to themselves, to their teams, and to their organizations. If leaders take on too many tasks for themselves, for example, they risk fatigue and burnout. They may also be unavailable to assist their teams when needed, or — even worse — they may delegate or assign too many tasks to those teams, which in turn leads to the fatigue and burnout of their team members. If you have ever been buried under a mound of task requests that started with “oh, and just one more thing…”, you (unfortunately) know exactly what I mean.
Leaders who routinely assign too many tasks or projects to their team members often end up with the reputation of being insensitive and demanding — and nobody wants to work under that type of leadership. An unending avalanche of tasks takes a heavy toll on the mind and body, leading to stress, anxiety, depression, irritability, an inability to focus, and difficulty sleeping. These symptoms in turn not only lead to lower morale and decreased productivity, but also to a diminished dedication to the organization as well.
So, the next time you need to ask one of your team members if they “can do” an additional task, ask them instead if they “have the bandwidth to do” that task. Asking with those words will show your team that you are respectful and do have realistic expectations — two traits that are possessed by all good leaders.
Jen O’Meara is an Associate Professor of Business Communications and a 3-time US Open national racquetball champion.
