How the Best Leaders Focus on Today without Neglecting Tomorrow

“What does success look like for me to lead here?”

This is the second of a five-part series on 5 Principles to Guide You in Leadership. The goal of this series is to help you answer the question, “What does success look like for me to lead here?” Keep in mind that this is not meant to be a rulebook. The spirit behind each principle is what I hope you take away.

Principle 2: Escape The Whirlwind.

In my experience, leaders fail this principle more than any of the other principles. When executives become ineffective, I find that they are almost always restrained by the stress and chaos of their commitments.

This quote sums it up best, “The most effective executives know which fires they can afford to let burn.”

Here is a picture of the struggle and tension we feel as leaders:

We are constantly asking the question: “What’s most important for me to be focusing on right now?” Generally speaking, the tension is held between the tasks of TODAY and the goals of TOMORROW.

I remember last year when one of our leaders (we’ll call him Joe) was catching up with Chris Heaslip, Leadr’s Executive Chairman. Joe was working on a few different projects and asked Chris for advice on which project he should be prioritizing today.

Joe asked, “Should it be the job description I’m putting together for a role I’m hiring next month? It really needs to be posted so that I can have someone in the seat at the right time. Or should it be the client call I need to jump on today that will require about an hour of prep?” Joe listed several more things, some that needed to be done today and others that needed to be done for tomorrow. 

Joe was feeling a tension that we all feel so much of the time. Of the multitude of things I need to do, which one do I prioritize most?

Chris’s answer? “Yes.”

And he wasn't joking.

He means that Joe needs to find a way to prioritize all of the projects on his plate. There is no other option. 

It may sound harsh, but as leaders we can’t afford to be either/or people. We can’t afford to be focused on today or tomorrow. We have to be both/and people. If you really want to be effective and find practical ways to escape the whirlwind, you simply can’t afford to be focused on less than today and tomorrow.

Let me show you what I mean.

This is what TODAY leaders look like:

We’ve all heard the adage, “Are you controlling your calendar or is your calendar controlling you?”

Well, when your calendar is controlling you, you’re a TODAY person. You have no breaks in the calendar, no time for creative outlets, and no energy to be thinking about TOMORROW. Again, you can’t afford to be one or the other. Effective leaders are able to focus on TODAY and TOMORROW.

How? Ask yourself these 3 questions every time you have a new project or meeting on the schedule.

Ask Yourself:

1. Does This Move the Needle?

As you jump into something new (project, email, or slack hits your inbox), ask yourself, “Does this really move the needle?” Are there other things I could be focused on that will make a bigger impact to the ultimate goal? If the new project does not appear to move the needle, ask yourself question #2...

2. How Urgent is This Really?

This idea comes from Warren Buffet, who said something like, “It’s pretty rare that something that comes across your plate has to be dealt with in the first 24 hours.” Most of the time, you can delay a decision or push out the deadline by a day.

Ask yourself: “This minute, this day, this week, this month?” Before you stress about the problem or rush to fix it, slow down and ask, “What is the deadline for this? Is it important that this gets done today or can it wait a week?” Then block out the time on your calendar accordingly and remind yourself of #3...

3. It’s Important the Job Gets Done--It’s Not Important It Gets Done by Me.

And you can add this, “It’s not important that it gets done by me...unless I want the credit.” Because that is almost always what holds us back from good delegation. We want the credit. When giving up our precious credit becomes effortless, jobs will get done at a significantly faster rate. Find ways to share the load so that the job gets done.

Leaders who have found a way to Escape the Whirlwind ask themselves these three questions when a new project comes across their desk, and they do everything they can to focus on both TODAY and TOMORROW. 

What are the consequences of failing to Escape the Whirlwind? You’ll have to wait for my next blog to find out.

MT

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