An OHA Framework
The Five Loads
Manager overload is rarely a volume problem. It is a load problem — and five different loads produce the same complaint while requiring completely different responses. The Five Loads is the framework OHA uses inside the Capacity Diagnostic to identify which one is actually dominant.
Why It Matters
"My managers are overloaded" is a symptom, not a diagnosis.
A manager carrying too many consequential decisions and a manager buried in reporting describe their week in almost identical language. The interventions that help them share almost nothing — which is why undiagnosed leadership investments rarely move retention or performance.
A practitioner framework developed through OHA's organizational engagements — not an independently validated psychometric instrument, and we do not present it as one.
The Framework
Five loads. Five different responses.
Cognitive load
The demand placed on attention and working memory by interruption, context-switching and unstructured information. Cognitive load is what makes a capable manager feel slow.
Signals we look for
- — Work only progresses outside working hours
- — Errors in familiar tasks
- — Meeting density with no consolidation time
What the response looks like
Protect blocks of consolidated attention, reduce context-switching structurally, and train short attention resets that work inside the workday.
Select a load to see its signals and response.
How We Use It
Diagnosis first, then a targeted intervention.
The Five Loads sits inside stage two of the Capacity Cycle™: the baseline measurement establishes where capacity is, the load diagnosis establishes what is consuming it — and only then does OHA design the intervention, with a re-measure at 90 days.