You Don’t Have Time… to Not Lead

If there’s one thing I hear all the time from executives, it’s this: “I’m so busy, I just don’t have time to lead!” And I get that, I really do. But what I want to reply—and often do!—and say, “You don’t have time NOT to lead!”

Let me explain.

It’s terrifyingly easy to become slaves to our calendars, always wondering how on earth we’re going to find time to eat lunch, let alone carve out time for strategic thinking or leadership development. But when we allow the calendars to drive our days, and we don’t intentionally focus on leading, we become Doers instead of Developers. And if there’s one thing all our environments need, it’s more Developers.

How can we take making time to lead from principle to point of action? I think there are three ways to start. And I made them all P words so they would be easy to remember!

1. PROTECT.

Listen, every time management expert out there will tell you to block off your calendar for important things like strategy, planning, reflecting and thinking. But the actual percentage of time we truly implement those blocks is in the single digits, I’m sure. With all of us, the urgent ends up taking precedence over the important—realizing we need to connect with someone, feeling a little overwhelmed or exhausted, or the to-do list is simply too long and so we churn out item after item. But we have to become sticklers about protecting the time we desperately need. I had lunch once with an executive from an extremely well-known company. I asked him what was the key that allowed him to become the leader he was. He told me that every Friday from 12-5 he blocked off his calendar, wouldn’t take meetings or calls, and would reflect on the business from the week and plan for leading the next week. And man, if he could do it at the very high level he was operating at, certainly we all can.

2. PRIORITIZE.

Once we protect the time that we need to regularly have for leadership development, we need to prioritize. What are my priorities right now in this position? Have my goals changed? What’s the win for my company/team? As organizations and responsibilities shift, it’s important to consistently come back and realign where necessary. Then that time allows you to plan on how to best communicate those things to your teams.

3. IT’S PERSONAL.

We have to meet with those we lead one-on-one, and do it regularly. I can’t believe how many men and women are leading teams and don’t have regular one-on-one meetings! It doesn’t have to be every week, and it doesn’t have to be an hour and a half long. It could be that it’s every other week, or even just 15-30 minutes. And I know the last thing you’re looking for is to attend another meeting. I know how you feel about meetings, but you have to have these. These are critical!

These are only three ways to start making sure you have time to lead—the list could continue one no doubt. But if we start small—with these three—I think we’ll see exponential growth in our teams.

How have you made time to lead?

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