Great Leaders Don’t Multi-Task.

Ever notice that great leaders know how to stay on task? Their ability to focus provides them with more quality time for thought. It’s what makes the difference between a business person and a leader.Somehow, through hype and ego many business people complain that they never have enough time for all that they need to do. It’s true . . . only a large part of the problem lies with the fact that we fill their day with useless and unnecessary activities.It’s time to go on a “Multi-Task Diet”.

A Multi-Task Diet is about getting rid of the flab that fills your working days: all those unnecessary activities that clog up our schedules, weigh us down, and make our day feel longer and tougher to get through. Activities that somehow make one feel more important yet with little or nothing to show for all that extra effort.

Yet in our furious effort to try to get everything done all the time, we occassionally lift up our head and notice a great leader that seems calm, cool and collected. These leaders have the ability to slow down in a conversation and truly provide servant leadership to those around them. They know the importance of taking time for self, time for others and time for their spirituality. They are true leaders.

Here is a list from an article I read recently (called Slow Leadership) that I believe would dramatically improve every business person’s ability to become a great leader. And more importantly, by not multi-tasking, provide the opportunity to be a great SERVANT LEADER:

1. If you have Instant Messaging on your computer, turn it off. Now! Better still, remove the hideous abomination altogether. Do not use IM. You don’t need it, unless you’re a pre-teen geek without a life.

2. Never keep your e-mail software open all the time. Open it to check for e-mails only when you choose.

3. Set fixed times to check for new e-mails and let everyone know when they are. At other times, ignore it.

4. Filter everything coming in, so you can sort out what matters from what doesn’t. For e-mails, use the filtering facility in your software.

5. Give each one a priority and deal with it when you choose. Only respond immediately to genuine emergencies. Make everyone else wait (and I mean everyone).

6. When you send someone an e-mail, make a practice of telling them when you need a response (be specific; say “by Monday at 3.00 p.m.” not “a.s.a.p.”). Ask them to do the same when they e-mail you.

7. When you receive e-mail copies that you don’t want, send a polite note to the sender asking them to take you off the circulation list. Don’t stay on the list from inertia, or “just in case” something important comes along. It won’t. Be ruthless. If they don’t take you off the list, use your filtering software to classify that e-mail as “junk” and ignore it.

8. Only use BlackBerrys and cellphones when you must. Turn them off the rest of the time.

9. Discourage people from calling you on your cellphone, save on matters of genuine urgency. Don’t use it for gossip.

10. Keep cellphone calls short and to the point. Leave anything else for when you have more time.

With this new freedom, comes worry that you’re out of the loop. Get over it. That’s only your ego talking to you. The really important stuff will percolate to the top. Remember, Lincoln didn’t have email, I.M., blackberrys, or even a phone or a car. Yet he was one of the greatest leaders of all time.

Time for servant leadership creates great leaders. Start your Mult-Task diet today.

Written by David Woods. David@giantpartners.biz

Strategic Planning is DEAD.

Do you believe that strategic planning leads to growth, profits and more productive outcomes?  We recently researched approximately 100 CEOs and asked them how many of them had a strategic plan.  Over 70% had completed a strategic planning process.  Yet, this same population of CEOs showed no more profits, growth or less friction than those that did not have a strategic plan. 

Why? The answer is simple.  Traditional strategic planning is a failure.  It does not work because it cannot work.  The idea that a few corporate executives can “go away”, receive massive input, gain consensus about what “to do” (objectives) and then print the document to be executed does not work.  In the same way that buying a cookbook does not makes you a chef.   We overvalue the “to do” part of the event and undervalue the “thinking” process.  Let me challenge you to re-think your strategic planning process.   

Most companies only create and communicate what they  will “do”. Most companies do not understand and can not communicate how they “think and make decisions”. Traditional strategic planning is analogous to following a recipe.  You can not become a chef simply by following a recipe.  You become a chef by learning how to “think” like a chef through shopping, mixing ingredients, cooking, tasting and tweaking the food.  You don’t become a chef by reading the cookbook over and over again. The next time someone tells you that you need to do strategic planning.  Let them know that what you really need to do first is to do some strategic thinking.  It’s the first chapter of a good plan… but unfortunately it’s the chapter most CEOs forget to do.

Written by David Woods.  David@giantpartners.biz