As a leader you are what you do! How you spend your time is a critical determinant of your impact on the business. The most successful leaders spend the majority of their time focusing on the delivery of next year’s business plan and beyond. These leaders have clarity and focus; clarity about the key actions which are necessary to take the business to the next stage of growth and a focus on delivering these actions. They are also relentless in driving this agenda every day! Many business leaders find this difficult to deliver as they get sucked into the operational side of running the business. Let’s consider some of the actions can you take to be more strategic and create a more daily focus on growing your business.
Change your time utilisation
The starting point is to review your existing utilisation and analyse how much time you are spending on driving the delivery of your plan. You can do this by keeping a detailed time log for a week or reviewing your diary and to do list to get a sense of how you utilise your time at present. When you know how you are spending your time then you can consider what your “ideal” time utilisation should be in order to leverage your time to get the most from it. The creation of your “ideal” time utilisation identifies the areas you need to spend/more less time on and provides a focus for change.
There are many factors which contribute to a lack of personal productivity – poor time management, procrastination, inability to delegate. Most of the experts in time management agree that even the most effective time managers can improve their personal organisation and free up at least 10% more time. That’s an extra half day a week (at least) to focus on driving you strategic agenda. We’ve all read the books on time management or been on courses which deliver short term results. Ultimately, most people slip back into their old ways when they become embroiled in the day to day delivery. As with most major changes to personal habits, time management tricks and techniques do not work unless you are fundamentally motivated to change
Become expert at prioritising
One of the most important elements of focusing your time is deciding what to do. As a business leader you have choices. You have the freedom to fill your day with the tasks and actions you choose. Even where there are blockages to doing what you want (or need) to do, you have the power to re-allocate resources, recruit, or put new ways of doing things into place. The trick is to make sure that you are focused on delivering your strategic agenda,
One practical way of being more strategic is to fill your “to do” list and diary with Strategic Actions. Most diaries and “to do lists” are full of the operational minutae that conspire to soak up your time. Strategic Actions are the 'vital few' - the small number of activities that have the largest impact in relation to delivering your business objectives. They should be the first thing you put on your list to ensure that you are creating time and focus to deliver the most important (strategic) actions. This will provide a substantial boost to your personal productivity and strategic focus.
Create time for planning
Strategic leaders are effective at being proactive, planning and getting ahead of the game. The Urgency/Importance grid is a great way of considering how you use your time. Box 2 is the proactive (planning) box, dealing with important issues before they become urgent. While most people recognise the importance of box 2, too much business activity still takes place in box 1 And 3. It is all too easy to get sucked into activities in box 1 as their presence in that quadrant suggests an imminent deadline. Also, lack of prioritisation and delegation leads to time being spent in box 3. The uncertain nature of business means that a certain amount of our work will take place in Box 1 but this is not a strategic box. Spending more time in box 2 will make you a more effective strategic leader
Delegate, delegate, delegate
Leadership involves getting things done through other people and delegation is an essential element of this process. Effective delegation will not only free up time for you to spend on Highest and Best activities. It will also stretch and develop the capabilities of your people. The key to freeing up time is to identify the areas you should be spending your time on and becoming ruthless at eliminating the rest. Effective delegation is a critical part of this. In our experience, effective delegation can provide 50-60% extra time to focus on your Highest & Best areas.
Develop your strategic thinking skills
The last and possibly most important area to consider is the development of your strategic thinking skills. The quality of your business plan will be dependent on the levels of strategic thinking that lie behind it. Business leaders must be effective strategists who can develop and deliver robust ways of achieving the company’s objectives. Leaders must work at developing the intuitive skills which Mintzberg describes as “seeing above and beyond”. The ability to see “above” is about taking an overview of where the business is and developing an appropriate strategy to move it forward. Seeing beyond is the ability not only to see the future but also to construct the future, by thinking laterally and anticipating trends.
Strategy is a dynamic process. market opportunities, competitor’s actions, customer requirements and external factors are all in a continual state of flux. In order to be an effective strategist you should be continually testing and refining your own strategic thinking. You also need to open yourself to new ways of thinking through exposure to other companies, business concepts and other business leaders
The core belief behind our Highest & Best leadership approach is that business growth will be seriously constrained unless you (and your team) focus on what and how you spend your time. Highest & Best is a strategic approach that links leadership and business growth. It requires more effective personal organisation, enabling others and the development of strategic thinking skills; but as a starting point you could develop the habit of asking yourself on a daily basis - What did I do today to grow my business?
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