7. Org Design
The Manager Load Budget
Nothing added without a removal
Use when
Any program is about to add rituals, reviews, or reporting to managers
- 1
The budget
Every manager's load is published: reports, standing meetings, recurring reports owned, approvals in queue. One sheet, visible.
- 2
The rule
Net load change during any change program is zero or negative. Program owners propose swaps, not additions; a named report or meeting dies first.
- 3
The floor
A span cap with public, time-limited exceptions, and two protected coaching hours a week that survive the next crisis.
“A removal nobody misses was not a removal.”
How to use it
Managers explain roughly 70 percent of team engagement variance, and fell from 31 to 22 percent engaged between 2022 and 2025. Every unfunded initiative lands on them.
Card details
- Model type
- Sequence
- Origin status
- Original
- Content last reviewed
- 28 July 2026
Origin
OriginalHarsimran Kaur Kapoor, 2026. Built on Gallup manager engagement and span-of-control data.