The task nobody wants should not always belong to the person least comfortable refusing.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Unpleasant jobs find the same hands over and over, and the selection is rarely deliberate. It works by silence: someone asks, several people wait, and the person with the least practice at saying no fills the gap. Everyone else experiences this as the task being handled.

If you run anything shared, rotate the worst job on a schedule rather than an appeal. If you are the one who always ends up with it, let the next silence last. And if someone else fills every gap, take one from them unasked.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which unwanted job always lands on the same person around you?

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