Stop doing non-promotable Work
Non-promotable tasks (NPTs). I had never heard of this concept until two months ago when I came across a fantastic book: The No Club: Putting a Stop to Women’s Dead-End Work.
Women so often volunteer or are asked to execute hours and hours of helpful, valuable tasks. The main question is - who gains from this value? Those tasks are often not aligned with your core function for a company or things that will add to your own development or career goals. How often have you offered to clean up a slide deck, organize lunch for colleagues, stay late to help with a presentation, or agree to a project you have zero interest in? You may even think saying yes to all that is ever asked is a great strategy for being seen as someone who “leans in”, is a team player, can be counted on, and the thing we’re all striving for — to be liked!
All of those tiny tasks, like organizing a team lunch or volunteering to write up a meeting summary to send out to colleagues add up. The larger time sucks like agreeing to taking on a project for a colleague that is out on leave or stepping up to lead the team of summer interns compound even further in taking more of your time.
In the HBR article that highlights the book’s research, it states women spend on average 200 more hours than their male counterparts - regardless of rank - on NPTs. That’s almost one MONTH of work not aligned with advancing your career. Add on top of that the gender pay gap and career disadvantages women face due to family responsibilities. That is a whole lot of negative compounding towards women being able to advance their careers, purpose, and mission.
So how do you identify NPTs in your life? I suggest first reading the HBR summary as it provides the quickest takeaways. If you have time, read the book - it is worthwhile.
Below you’ll find how I reflected on my own career and the game plan I made:
Step 1 A: Conduct an Audit of the Last Two Months of Work (and if you have the time and space, maybe a full year)
What did you volunteer for, lean-in to, get assigned that was not aligned with your core functions in your role or the core functions in a role you want to grow into?
What items didn’t grow you professionally?
What items were unseen by many colleagues?
What items / tasks do your male colleagues never seem to do?
What tasks or projects did you NOT have time for (or didn’t deliver on time)? Think through the WHY behind this - where were you spending your time instead?
What items do you see yourself naturally leaning into without thinking first?
Step 1 B: Outline Value to the Company and Your Career
What items / themes / areas are you evaluated on?
What areas progress the company forward towards its goals?
Which items are seen as most valuable to leadership?
What areas of the business, tasks, or projects propel you towards your greater long-term goals or develop skills you want to grow?
Step 2: Overlay Your Findings
Compare the findings of your audit from Step 1 A to B
Are there massive gaps? Where did you lose the most time?
There will always be some misalignment BUT how many hours or days did you spend on those tasks that aren’t aligned with Step 1B? Were there themes you can take away (ie, you always say yes when certain people ask or you always do meeting follow-up)?
Step 3: Make a Plan
Write out the things you spent time on that you know you should no longer be involved in
Write out specific projects, spaces, tasks, groups you WANT to lead or support in the coming months. When you feel yourself about to say yes to something, ask quickly, “Does this align to my goals?”
Step 4: Set Yourself Up for Success
Discuss this with your mentor(s) - how can they hold you accountable or encourage you?
Discuss this with your boss. This may feel like a sudden shift for those around you. You need to make your intentions and desires clear in a respectful, professional way that still allows you to be viewed as a great team member. If you have a great boss, they’ll be supportive and hopefully helpful! If you know your boss isn’t … optimal… you’ll want to approach this even more tactfully.
Continue to hold yourself accountable. Revisit this each month or at least every quarter. Have you continued to stay true to your goals?
Be true to yourself! You might be saying, “I love to be helpful!” or “I really don’t mind doing xyz.” That’s 100% OK. Just be clear-eyed in how you spend your time and how that has real, life-long impacts on your career and goals. And doing this exercise and making these changes doesn’t mean you will never be the person to organize a team lunch or help a colleague finish a deck late at night. It means you will be much more intentional when choosing to do those things and ensuring the MAJORITY of your time isn’t spent on them.
The goal here is intentionality and ensuring we value ourselves, our time, and our goals.
Would love your thoughts in the comments! Did I miss a major piece that you’ve been reflecting on? How can we help each other in the workplace? How can we look at this in our personal lives as well?