Sitting late once in a while is normal.

Sitting late for a few weeks during an important project is also understandable.

But if you are frequently sitting late, work might not be the only reason. 

It could be (for a Manager):

You don’t have adequate team members
You don’t have people with the right skill set
You are ‘doing’ things, instead of ‘managing’

If those are indeed the reasons, address them.

But there could be a deeper — and far more common — reason that most professionals never notice.

You are letting your ‘Strengths’ dictate your day.

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My Experience

This issue is a painful reminder for me too.

At one time, I was sitting late daily.

For ease, I shifted to a rental accommodation near my office.

This continued for several months. I went home to the suburbs only on weekends.

But the issue didn’t get resolved. 

Conventional wisdom would say:  I had too much work.

But that wasn’t the case. Some of my peers handled bigger departments and, yet, left on time.

I was micro-managing and not delegating enough.

That also wasn’t the case, as my former team members would tell you. Most of them were happy with me, and I had among the fewest resignations.

And yet, I sat late.

Frankly, I didn’t have an issue with sitting late. Since I lived alone then, it wasn’t a problem.

The issue was — I was still lagging at work, even after putting all my time on the job.

It is only in the last couple of years that I have understood the real reason.

I was letting my Strengths dictate the day.

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How do our Strengths play out at work?

Given a task, we address it through the strengths that come naturally to us.

For the same issue,

If you are an Extrovert, you will pick up the phone and call. I, as an Introvert, would prefer to send an email.

At other times, you will try to persuade emotionally. I would use logic and reason.

This is inevitable.

This isn’t an issue, also because any task can be done in multiple ways.

But over time, these strengths make us diverge further — and start affecting things the other way around.

We start focusing on tasks that let us use our strengths:

A “problem-solver” gets pulled into troubleshooting issues – big or small.

A “relationship builder” spends too long talking to stakeholders and team members.

A “perfectionist” looks for opportunities to refine and polish their work.

A “helpful” manager says yes too often and becomes a bottleneck.

Consequently, we begin falling behind on essential work and others’ requests.

We then end up sitting late to address them.

The solution, therefore, is not working longer — but bringing your focus back to your core responsibilities.

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How to bring focus back to your core responsibilities?

Peter Drucker shared a simple but powerful insight many years ago:

“The first practice is to ask what needs to be done. Note that the question is not “What do I want to do?”

Asking what has to be done, and taking the question seriously, is crucial for managerial success. Failure to ask this question will render even the ablest executive ineffectual.”

Likewise, I have found it helpful to ask myself from time to time: “What is my main role here?”

To help, I’ve created a slide you can print and keep on your desk.

Table – for Manager

Likewise, for an Individual Contributor role.

If required, you can customise it further based on your core responsibilities / caution yourself on the strengths you overuse at work. 

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An unintended benefit

As you focus on your main role, an unintended benefit emerges.

You will start addressing your weaknesses or tasks you tend to avoid.

For example, suppose you struggle with ‘Relationship Management’.

But now, seeing the Start / Stop slide daily, you will think of some ways to better the relationships with your boss, peers, and other stakeholders.

You will find the time to make a 5-minute courtesy call or have a short meeting to understand a stakeholder’s concern.

Eventually, it will become easy for you.

This is why focusing on your main role is not restrictive — it is liberating.

It supports your long-term professional growth.

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Focus first on what the role requires — not merely on your preferred way of working.