They won't.

Colleagues,

Another way to find five minutes: stop yourself from taking care of someone else’s monkey!
 
You are a leader, and you get stuff done, so many people are happy to let you do their stuff for them. They want you to take care of their monkeys!
 
Next time someone asks you to do something that really isn’t your job, you can respond in several ways:

• “That sounds like a great idea! I don’t have time right now, but please feel free to go ahead and do it yourself.” (They won’t)
• “It sounds like this is important to you. Let’s do this. Think about five ways we could approach this problem and schedule a meeting with me next week.” (They won’t)
• “Interesting. Would you mind touching base with these five people and hearing what their thoughts are? We can then talk again next week.” (They won’t)
• “I would love to help, but I can’t right now. Have you thought about trying X strategy? Maybe give it a shot and let me know what happens.” (They won’t)
• “Hmmmm. I’ll need to give that some thought. Get back to me next week.” (They won’t)

 
If all of these things fail, ask the person to form a committee. You will never hear about it again!
 
Cheers!
 
Frederick