Are you a senior leader who recognises that they need to be more strategic? I’ve recently worked with 3 senior leaders who had this development focus – one as a senior consultant in the NHS, one in a global role in FMCG, and one as a senior director in investment services. They all had two things in common (1) they cared passionately about something (2) they had a huge sense of accountability and responsibility, so much so that they didn’t always know when to say no. These two factors both impacted their ability to dedicate time to strategic thinking because of the way that they focused their time.
If this feels familiar, read on for where to start so that you create the space you need for strategic thinking and focus – it’s not just about what you do, but also about how you think.
What drives you?
In busy roles, with many stakeholders, and many demands, time is precious. Leaders in such environments don’t have the luxury of spending days at a time strategising – they are leading and developing their teams, problem solving and trouble shooting, delivering results, and often covering vacant team positions which pulls them back into more operational working. As such, it is even more important that they intentionally make time for taking a step back, looking at future needs, visualising and planning the future, and aligning others, to ensure their business is future proof. So what stops this?
We can get caught in a pattern of trying to keep all the balls in the air and finishing our day exhausted without a moment of reflection. This causes decision fatigue and we keep on ‘keeping on’ in the hope that it will get better.
To help the 3 leaders I recently worked with, we needed to understand what drove that ‘keeping on’ and made it difficult to stop. For the global FMCG leader it was a strong value of ‘quality’ that meant she felt she could never do enough to ensure quality was where it needed to be. For the NHS consultant it was making a difference for patients, and while she intellectually understood she could make more difference by stepping back and thinking big picture, she was drawn to her clinical work and fitting in just one more patient not wanting them to have to wait any longer. For the Director in Financial Services, it was a passion for her people – not wanting them to be burnt out, taking work to protect them. For each of them, once uncovered, we reviewed how to reframe the driver in a way that enabled them to find space.
What’s your driver?
What do you find yourself compelled to do that means you don’t have time to step back and be longer term focused? How can you change your beliefs or assumptions about this driver so that it helps you step back rather than drives you to keep doing what you always do?
Setting boundaries and being clear on ownership
All 3 leaders had a strong sense of accountability and ownership… so much so that they lost sight of their boundaries. If you find it hard to let go of operational work, try asking yourself the following questions:
- By owning this, who am I holding back in their own development?
- What am I role modelling to my team members? What will they think is most important to me? Is this what I want to be role-modelling, and if not, how do I need to change how I spend my time and with whom?
- How does the way I am focusing my time lead to what I want for myself in the long term in work and life? If it doesn’t, what will it lead to? Am I prepared to settle for that?
Taking the first step
Making changes to create space for reflection, future thinking, planning and alignment takes time and intentional effort. It needs self-awareness and the ability to recognise when what you are trying is working and to be kind to yourself when it is not. What’s your first step? Do you need to review your drivers and potentially reframe? Can you check in on your sense of responsibility and review and potentially reset your boundaries?
Sometimes, it can help to think these things through in a confidential space, without judgment, to create a pause and enable a step in the right direction – coaching can help you do that so do please contact me if you are interested in finding out more about how we could work together.
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