{"id":96,"date":"2018-10-18T13:42:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-18T13:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielvlopes238992071.wordpress.com\/2018\/10\/18\/the-3-best-uses-of-an-effective-leaders-time\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T14:25:54","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T22:25:54","slug":"the-3-best-uses-of-an-effective-leaders-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopy.is\/blog\/2018\/10\/18\/the-3-best-uses-of-an-effective-leaders-time\/","title":{"rendered":"The 3 best uses of an effective leader\u2019s time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What makes a good leader? Look at how you spend your time.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Time is the one constant we are all given. No one gets more or less of it than anyone else. As leaders, it\u2019s how we spend our time\u200a\u2014\u200awhat we choose to prioritize, and what we choose not to do at all\u200a\u2014\u200athat reveals what\u2019s important to us, and determines our team\u2019s outcomes. If we want to figure out how to be an effective leader<\/a> in the workplace, we must start with examining how we spend our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a CEO myself, I\u2019ve personally wrestled with this. I\u2019ve had weeks where I\u2019ve had fires to put out, meetings to show up to, business development calls to make, interviews to hold\u2026 Before I know it, the week is over, and I\u2019m looking back at it thinking, \u201cWhat the hell just happened? Where did my week go? Is that really where I wanted to spend my time?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, I decided to pose this question, \u201cWhat\u2019s the best use of a leader\u2019s time?\u201d to our online leadership community with 1,000+ leaders from all over the world. The answers were remarkably consistent. Based on our members\u2019 responses, there seemed to be three areas that leaders should focus their time on\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recruiting + Hiring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Your team\u2019s success hinges on the people you choose to hire<\/a>. Surely, this is an obvious statement\u200a\u2014\u200aand yet we forget about our role as a leader to drive these efforts. As a leader, you should be thinking strategically about who you want to contribute to your culture and help get your company to where you want it to be. What kinds of non-negotiable values must they have? What diversity of ideas and backgrounds should they have? Then, you should actively work to attract and recruit those folks to your organization. How are you showing that you run a company worth working for (e.g., your company\u2019s marketing, you speaking at conferences, etc.)? How often do you meet new people outside your network, to connect and passively recruit folks who may be great to work with in the future?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a leader, you also set the standard for what matters when hiring: the skillset, the values, the experience. You say when it\u2019s time to hire\u200a\u2014\u200aand when it\u2019s not. Naturally, depending on the size of your company, you may have a hiring team helping you out with this. But regardless, your voice in this process as the leader is essential. It\u2019s too important for you not to be spending your time on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering your team\u2019s long-term strategy, vision, and culture<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, focusing on the long-term view of the company is hard to do. Especially, when there seems to be so many immediate needs for the company to take care of\u2026and, when we\u2019re not so sure about the long-term view of things, ourselves! But thinking about the long-term strategy, vision, and culture of the company is critical because, well, no one else is doing it. Literally, it is no one else\u2019s job in the company to be thinking about the long-term, be it six months, a year or two out, or ten years down the road\u200a\u2014\u200aother than you, as the leader. In particular, considering the long-term vision<\/a> is paramount, because a company\u2019s vision is where the most fundamental source of motivation for your team is derived. If you\u2019re not spending time designing and adjusting a long-term vision\u200a\u2014\u200aa picture of a better place\u200a\u2014\u200apeople won\u2019t be motivated to do work to help get the company there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communicating the direction to everybody all the time<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Communication is the easiest thing for leaders not<\/em> to do. After all, it\u2019s quite a repeated, draining slog to keep saying the same thing over and over again<\/em>. Despite this, many members of our community emphasized that you cannot communicate enough as a leader. Why? You can\u2019t expect your team to know anything unless you communicate it. And, depending on the size of the organization, it usually takes some time for a message to sink in or a for a decision to be thoroughly explained. Knowing what\u2019s going on and where a company is headed is how people do their best work. People can\u2019t perform well without the context and information to do so. If you\u2019re not constantly communicating what people should know, the context isn\u2019t there and people can\u2019t do their best job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These three areas are what our members said are the best use of a leader\u2019s time. But how about for you<\/em>? Do you find yourself spending time in these areas as a leader\u2026 or not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing these three areas prompted even one member<\/a> of our community to reflect and write about how she plans her week<\/a>. I encourage you to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our capacity to improve as leaders expands when we evaluate how we spend our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u23f0 <\/em>To create more time for yourself to focus on these 3 essential areas<\/em><\/strong>, you may want to check out Canopy<\/a>. Our <\/strong>Leadership Training Product<\/a> helps you learn to run one-on-one meetings, encourage honest feedback, and get regular status updates from the team and our <\/strong>Tools<\/a><\/em> make it all possible\u2013 saving you a TON of time as a leader. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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