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There is a dynamic within organizations that is both common and rarely discussed: the more reliable you prove yourself to be, the more work gets assigned to you.
At first glance, this seems like a form of recognition. After all, it's natural to assign the most important tasks to the people who have already demonstrated that they can handle them effectively.
But what happens when this logic repeats over time?
What often occurs is that the most capable professionals end up carrying a disproportionate share of the workload, while the rest of the organization continues to depend on them. This dynamic is sometimes described as the Broken Dishes Rule.
What Is the Broken Dishes Rule?
The idea stems from a simple observation.
Imagine a restaurant. At the end of a shift, the manager needs to assign a few additional tasks: closing the register, checking reservations, and making sure everything is in order.
Who will those tasks be assigned to?
Probably not the waiter who has just made several mistakes or broken a few dishes. Instead, they will go to the most reliable person—the one who consistently gets the job done without problems.
The following evening, the manager will make the same choice.
And the evening after that.
Little by little, the most competent employee ends up taking on more and more responsibilities simply because they have proven capable of handling them.
The Competence Paradox
The Broken Dishes Rule highlights a paradox.
In organizations, competence is rewarded, but the reward often consists of taking on additional work that does not necessarily translate into:
- More autonomy.
- A promotion.
- Financial recognition.
- Instead, it often means simply receiving more requests.
Those who solve problems become the people entrusted with even more problems to solve.
In short:
🗨️ Work flows
to those who get it done
When Recognition Turns Into Overload
Many professionals will recognize situations like these:
- "Can you take care of this? You're the most experienced."
- "I'm assigning this project to you because I know you won't make mistakes."
- "Only you can get this done quickly."
- "We absolutely need you, otherwise the project is at risk."
- "I know this shouldn't be your responsibility, but could you help us out? You're the expert."
Individually, these phrases sound like compliments.
Over time, however, they can become a mechanism that concentrates responsibility and pressure on the same people over and over again.
The result is that top performers risk becoming the accumulation point for every organizational emergency.
Why It's Also a Problem for the Company
This dynamic does not only harm those who work the hardest. The organization pays the price as well.
When the most important activities are always assigned to the same people, the rest of the team has fewer opportunities to develop skills and take on responsibilities.
In the short term, this may seem efficient. In the long term, it creates dependence on a few key individuals and makes the organization more fragile.
How to Avoid the Trap
For managers, the challenge is to distribute responsibilities not only according to current reliability, but also according to people's growth potential.
For employees, it is useful to learn how to distinguish between responsibilities that support professional development and responsibilities that are assigned simply because they have become the automatic go-to person for every problem.
Competence should create opportunities, not just additional workload.
Conclusion
The Broken Dishes Rule reminds us that organizations tend to reward reliability in the most immediate way possible: by assigning more work to those who already perform well.
It's an understandable choice, but not always a smart one.
Because when every new success results only in new obligations, the risk is that the most capable people stop feeling valued and start feeling exploited.
And at that point, the problem is no longer the broken dishes. The problem is that the person who never breaks them is carrying the entire service alone.
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