Invisible Work: How It Can Make (and Break) Your Team

As leaders, we've all done it.

You shoot off a quick Slack message: "Can you look into [XYZ] before we send this off tomorrow?"

It took you 30 seconds to type. What you don't see is the 5-hour marathon that follows.

Very few request are actually "simple"

So often, our "simple" requests trigger a cascade of invisible work:

• Chasing down data from two other departments
• Reconciling conflicting numbers or information
• Redesigning and adding new slides (plus re-routing for proofing)
• Looping everyone in on any changes
• Rushing through other work that was a priority that day
  

As leaders, none of us are immune. And I have to wonder, how many times have I done this? How many 30-second requests have I thrown at my team without thinking about the domino effect I just triggered?

We, as leaders, are breaking our employees’ trust

• Feel like we don't get it (and honestly, we don't get a lot of it a lot of the time)
• Burn out from racing against impossible deadlines
• Stop believing us when we say we value work-life balance
• Think about leaving (or begin searching) for companies that actually respect their time

Hard truth: 99% of the time, your team wants to say “yes” to you

Think about it. When was the last time someone on your team said, "Actually, that's not possible in that timeframe"? If you're like me, it's been a while. And that's not because we're great at estimating work. It's because we've either fostered a culture where pushing back doesn't feel like an option, or our teams believe that our C-Suite titles supersede any inconvenience on their end.

I’ve talked candidly to people on my team about this in retrospect. Here’s what I’ve found goes through someone’s brain when I ask them to do something.

• "If I say no, they might think I'm not a team player."
• "Everyone else seems to manage impossible deadlines."
• "Maybe I'm just not good enough if I can't make this work."
• "If it's for [insert CEO name], I NEED to get it done ASAP!"

But think about the (real) cost

In the past, these kinds of last-minute requests led to these kinds of costs:

• An error in a stakeholder report that nobody caught because the reviewer was on hour 11 of their day
• The cool, unique feature that didn't get built because we were too busy fighting yesterday's fires
• The $50K project that's now 2 weeks behind because my "quick ask" pulled the lead off it for 2 days

And it can get worse. Employees will start to look for new jobs if they feel like they can’t handle the pace or feel like they’re always drowning. To me, that’s the biggest possible cost.

Your team's morale — and honestly, your company's future — depends on getting this right.

Try these scripts for urgent requests

As a result of all this, I'm changing the way I drop last-minute requests on my team. My new approach favors my employees AND gives them room to tell me what else is on their plate that I might not know about—all the stuff that will keep them at their desk past dinner to complete if I throw them down a rabbit hole in that moment.

Instead of: "Can you get me X by tomorrow?"

✅ Try: "I need X. Before I set a deadline, help me understand what you'd need to deprioritize to make this happen."

Instead of: "This should be quick..." 

✅ Try: "What's a realistic timeline if we want this done right the first time?"

Instead of: "Just do your best" 

✅ Try: "Who else would need to be involved for this to happen? Let's loop them in before we commit to anything."

And my personal favorite that's saved my team countless hours:

“I'm about to ask for something that might be a heavy lift. Scale of 1-10, how disruptive would this be to your current priorities?"

The magic? When you ask these questions, your team starts telling you the truth. And the truth is usually: "I can do A or B, but not both. Which matters more?"

Be your team’s biggest advocate

Look. We're all moving fast. We're building companies, hitting targets, and keeping investors happy. But if we burn out our best people because we can't take 30 seconds to think about the 9 hours of work we're creating, what are we really building?

Next time you're about to fire off that "quick request," pause, think about the evening plans you're about to offset. Think about the six other "quick requests" they're already juggling.

Your team's morale — and your company's future — depends on getting this right. And I’m right there with you.

No leader is exempt. Great people don't leave bad companies; they leave leaders who don't see their work.

Need to supplement some of the work?

Sometimes, certain problems can't be solved internally. Maybe your team doesn't have the time to do it all, or maybe you lack the in-house skills to complete more complex or niche tasks.

If your team can use a helping hand, we're here to help. Check out this sample strategy to get a feel for what we can do for companies like yours.