How to Manage an Employee Who Always Says They Are Too Busy

In this episode, Lucas and Luna tackle a classic manager frustration: the direct report who constantly says they are too busy to take on new work or even discuss their workload. Lucas shares a specific framework called the 'Busyness Audit' — a 30-minute exercise where you ask an employee to log every task for one week and then map those tasks against team priorities. He walks through a real example from a mid-size software company where a manager discovered her employee was spending 40 percent of his time on internal meetings that no one had asked him to attend. Luna pushes back on whether this feels like micromanagement, and Lucas explains why it's actually a form of coaching. They also discuss the difference between genuine overload and a culture of performative busyness, and how to tell the difference before the conversation starts. By the end, listeners will have a practical, low-confrontation tool to turn 'I'm too busy' from a conversation-ender into a conversation-starter. #BusynessAudit #TimeManagement #Delegation #WorkloadManagement #Productivity #ManagerTools #ToxicProductivity #PerformativeBusyness #Coaching #Communication #Prioritization #Boundaries #Leadership #Careers #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #ManagerMondays #FirstTimeManager Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo