Leading Is the Job – Not the Extra Bit!

Hi there, I'm Ben Morton and welcome to the Leaders Kit Bag, your Go to podcast for practical leadership insights in just six minutes in each episode, we tackle real challenges faced by leaders and managers, offering actionable tools and strategies you can take away and immediately apply. And because leadership doesn't happen in a studio, the these episodes are mostly recorded outside on the move. They're raw, unscripted and straight to the point. So wherever you are, let's dive in and sharpen your leadership skills six minutes at a time. If you often find yourself saying things like I just don't have time to do all of the leadership and management tasks that I know I should be doing, then that is a big red flag. But you probably already know that. The danger is, of course, that if we don't make time for the leadership and management aspects of our job, then our team won't progress, our business or organization won't be able to grow and scale effectively. And again, the reality is that if we don't invest the time in leadership, we'll be forced to spend time on things like recruitment as a result of having to replace the people who have left the team or organization because they're demotivated or disengaged. And that's what we're going to be talking about in today's episode of the Leader's Kit Pack. It's the two Too Busy to Lead cycle and I'm going to help you crack it once and for all. There are so many studies out there over the years that show how leaders who invest time in the leadership aspect of their job. The leaders who invest time in coaching and mentoring their team, and the leaders who find the time to stop, to step back and think are those that generate better results for their teams and organizations. But it can be hard to do. Many leaders get stuck in the trap of executing. Many leaders fall foul of the many sort of paradoxical elements of leadership where they confuse busyness with effectiveness. We fall into the trap of obsessing over efficiency when instead we should be focusing on being effective. Because after all, as leaders, as individuals, we can very efficiently spend time doing the wrong things. The best leaders find the time to pause, to step back. They prioritise the leadership aspect of their job and in doing so, they enable others to act. Thinking of leadership as an additional task, as an extra task is also a big red flag. As leaders, leading is our job. It's what we are paid to do. Leadership is the first foundation of success in any team function or business. As one of my former colleagues Once said, the leadership capability within your organization is potentially sorry, the last remaining competitive advantage that exists. So if leadership is the foundation, coaching and mentoring is one of the tools that makes our team more effective. It makes them more independent and autonomous. It means our team come to us less often for the solutions, for guidance, for the answers. And when leaders use the time blocking tactic of stepping back and carving out time to think, that means we're able to spend less time firefighting because we spot some of those issues before they become that blazing inferno that we have to deal with. So how do we actually do it? How do we break the too busy to lead cycle? Well, as is often the case, I've got three simple tips for you. Number one is to audit your calendar. Print your calendar for the past week, grab yourself three different colored highlighters and highlight your calendar for where you are executing or doing stuff, for the management activities and for the leadership activities. It will give you a really rich picture of where you are spending your time. Tactic number two, really simple time blocking our calendar, our diary isn't just a tool for booking in meetings with other people, okay? The very best leaders that I've worked with, that I've coached and mentored are obsessed with time blocking their calendar. So blocking time into your calendar for the leadership activities for one to ones for, for coaching and developing your people, for thinking about strategy and the vision, and for simply scanning ahead and looking at what is coming up in the future. And the final tactic to help you break the too busy to lead cycle is to shift your focus. Spend some of the time that you might have been spending on execution and doing to coach and develop your team. Use coaching as a tool to develop them and get them to think more autonomously, more independently. And when they come to you wanting an answer or a solution, instead of just giving it in a heartbeat, simply ask them a few questions. What do you think? What are your options? If you did that, will it solve the challenge? And very quickly, you'll empower your team and buy yourself back a lot more time in your calendar to invest in the leadership aspects of your job. That is it for this episode of the Leaders Kit Bag. As always, I hope it's been useful. Until next time, look after yourself. Look after those you've got the privilege and responsibility to lead. And until next time, folks, lead on.