Leadership development & business development tools

Many people I know complain about being too busy, not having enough time then feeling scattered and ineffective.  Yet they aren’t sure what to do about it.

In fact, we are each given the same amount of time: 24 hours, 1,400 minutes or 86,400 seconds each day.

The critical element is how we use that time.  Some people produce amazing results, mega deals or profound impact on their community.  Others seem to fritter away their time on meaningless activities, designed to have them feel comfortable and safe, but never reaching anywhere near their full potential.

I thought I’d share with you the strategy and tactics I use to allocate and leverage my time for maximum advantage and impact.

The over-arching short-term strategy is time blocking. I set aside chunks of time to focus and concentrate on one project or similar activities.  The advantage of this is rooted in early industrial age theories where doing similar, repetitive activities builds up a rhythm – a flow – which maximizes throughput.  When you multi-task, switching from phone calls, to email, to internet research to writing, your brain loses momentum.  The constant effort required to shift gears deludes you into thinking you’re accomplishing things while secretly eating away at your effectiveness.

I ‘see’ clients Tuesday – Thursday. That’s when I also attend a very few, carefully selected networking events and most speaking engagements. I schedule outside meetings around where I’m going to be in the city rather than driving all over creation for coffee or lunch. I strive to stay in the office on Mondays and Fridays and have very little client interaction on those days.  They are for me!

I subscribe to Marketing Mondays when I generally write these articles. I make plans for the week of who I need to call for prospecting or follow up purposes. I sketch out email marketing campaigns.

I also have Financial Fridays on the calendar.  That’s when I deal with some simple QuickBooks accounting issues and sales tax reporting. This keeps me current by doing a little each week so it doesn’t pile up and become overwhelming.

Here are 7 of my favorite other tactics.

1. Be crystal clear of your Dream Destination.
Think about this like your own personal “Happy Ending”. It’s not about the end of  your life but it is the state and quality of your life several years out in the future.  If things had gone better than you ever expected, what would you be experiencing?

2.  Sketch out a plan for the coming year.
You likely won’t get to your Dream Destination in one year and it’s tricky planning concrete events much farther out than a year. Convert your goals and outcomes to milestones and events and put activities (calls, meetings, marketing campaigns etc) on your calendar. Be bold and courageous as you do this.

3. Review long term goals at least monthly.

This will keep you from getting too distracted from immediate burning issues that would otherwise knock you off of your big target goals. You might decide to change your goals but at least it won’t be because you ‘forgot’ about them and their due date snuck up on you.

4.  Before you leave the office every day, make a list of the most important things to get done the following day.
If you skip this step, you run the risk of losing focus and getting caught up in unproductive busy work. You’ll forget about the important things and the day will end before you notice.

5.  Make sure marketing your business is on the list every day.
It’s tempting to spend all of your time serving your clients, but you can’t ignore the importance of continually engaging in marketing activities and sales conversations. Whether it’s nurturing referral partners, making cold, warm or follow up phone calls, or building lead generation processes for your website, you must perform actions that bring potential new clients ‘into the fold’.

6. Do the scariest things first.

Think big.  Then think bigger.  Make that important call.  Prepare yourself by doing some research so you’re prepared but don’t postpone making big calls by consuming yourself with research.

7. Delegate, delegate, delegate

I’ve said this before but it’s so important, it bears repeating.  Invest your valuable time to business development and selected product development that creates value for your firm.

Implement these practices on a consistent basis and watch your productivity soar.

Great leadership is the display of a combination of tools, skills and behaviors.  It isn’t the result of position power or personality.  Consequently, it can be learned and demonstrated.

Think of the great leaders you’ve known.  I’ll bet they demonstrated most if not all of these skills.

Here’s my list of the top tools, skills and behaviors.

1. Standards
Great leaders set high standards for themselves and the people around them.  They expect people to ‘step up’ in ways they may not even believe they can.  They require exemplary behavior and thinking.  They inspire others to perform at the highest levels possible.

2. Feedback
Honest, authentic communication is the hallmark of a great leader.  They are able to express difficult sentiments, communicate expectations and let people know how they are performing vis-a-vis the expectations while leaving those people empowered and ready to forge ahead.

3.  Rewards
Rewards are great for creating external motivation for achieving goals.  Effective leaders understand the unique values and priorities of the people around them and custom tailor rewards to activate the intrinsic desires that make people perform and  excel.

4. Stamp
When great leaders encounter inappropriate behavior, they don’ t stick their head in the sand and ignore it. They stamp it out – quickly and decisively.  They are swift in their response to restate expectations and request those expectations be met. This creates and a sense of fairness on the team and credibility for the leader.

5. Care
John C. Maxwell is often quoted as saying, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” When leaders go out of their way to demonstrate their humanity, empathy and concern for others, they create an ultra-strong bond with the people around them.

6. Belief
Great leaders have an unwavering belief in the potential of people.  They assume people want to excel and just need pathways, resources and the confidence to express their excellence.

Regardless of where you are in an organization’s hierarchy, you can practice using these tools and behaviors thereby enhancing your effectiveness as a leader.