As leaders of organizations we are required to wear many hats, however, no one is good at everything. Nope, not even you.
Let’s be honest, there are parts of running your organization that you hate because they suck and there are others that you hate because you suck at them. However, if you want to maximize your productivity you first have to identify the tasks on each list and then actively and systematically kick them out of your way.
When I meet with a client, I give them a self-assessment tool to help them determine their predominant leadership style. Knowing your underlying strengths and style(s) will help you understand yourself and the other members of your leadership team so you can work with them better. From my outsiders position it helps me determine if the right people are in the right jobs and if there are skills missing from the team.
In my business, there are things I can’t stand doing, accounting work is one of them. I CAN do it, but it is not something that is a good use of my time…it’s delegated. Always reviewed, but delegated. HR issues too. I CAN hire, fire and process insurance forms…but again, not a good use of my time…it’s delegated. Business development, contract fulfillment, client relations and marketing…those are predominantly mine…these are the things that I’m best at and are the highest yielding things I can do.
If you want to reclaim your time and sanity you have to ask yourself a couple of hard questions about every task on your plate:
- Am I the best person to do it?
- Do I actually like doing it?
- Can someone do it faster, cheaper or better than me?
- Is doing the task the highest and best use of my time?
When i do this, if the answers show me that I am the best person to do the job and no one can do it faster or cheaper, I’ll take it on. If there is a better, faster or cheaper choice…I will find the proper person to delegate it to.
Now, delegating is an entirely separate topic…to be discussed in another post.
Improve your productivity starting today. Start looking at all the time and energy sucks in your week and make your lists of what should go to others to free up your time for better, more enjoyable and more business building activities.
After all, it’s your choice. You can try and do it all until you burn-out or be strategic about things and have some time to think, plan and recharge.
