A key part of being a great leader is to think WHO and not HOW. This is a real skill that a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with. Read on to find tips on how to change your way of thinking.
It is rooted in the start-up philosophy of “It’s my business, I’ll do it, I know what’s best for my business, and anyway…no one will do it as well as me.” If you want to be a true leader you need to delegate and you need to trust your team to get the task done. Even if it’s not done your way.
Thinking WHO not HOW gets you thinking about who would be the right person for the task, rather than putting everything on your ToDoList. This will free you to focus on the ‘Important/Not Urgent’ tasks on your list.
“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Being effective and efficient
Eisenhower recognized that great time management means being effective as well as efficient. In other words, we must spend our time on things that are important and not just the ones that are urgent. Important activities have an outcome that leads to us achieving our goals, whether these are professional or personal. Urgent activities demand immediate attention, and are usually associated with achieving someone else’s goals. They are often the ones we concentrate on and they demand attention because the consequences of not dealing with them are immediate.
Stop firefighting
When you know which activities are important and which are urgent, you can overcome the natural tendency to focus on unimportant urgent activities, so that you can clear enough time to do what’s essential for your success. This is the way you can move from ‘firefighting’ into being a true leader who will succeed and grow their business. You can read more about the ‘Eisenhower Principle’ in our whitepaper: Accelerate Your Growth. »
In most organisations managing and doing are the lifeblood of the business
What you have to do vs What extra you can do
Similar to the Eisenhower Principle, you can also divide your role into four sections. leading, managing, doing, and coaching. In most organisations managing and doing are the lifeblood of the business, if you don’t do them your business won’t survive. Leading and coaching require choice and voluntary action, these are the extra areas of leadership that will propel your business to great success. Think of them as…
- Leading
Invent the future, create the vision, inspire others to act. - Managing
Directing others to act, translating the vision. - Doing
Taking action, walking the walk. - Coaching
Opening up new possibilities, maximising potential, developing people.
There’s a whitepaper waiting for you
This blog is based on our free whitepaper ‘Growing as a leader’. Follow the ‘Download our free Leadership whitepaper‘ link below to download it, and learn how to become a better leader.
