Stephen H Baum Leadership

THE PROBLEM

 Never have enough time for all you want to do? Putting off really important tasks because you are caught up in day-to-day problem-solving?

 THE ROOT CAUSE

 Leading a company is hard work, frustrating, uncertain, stressful, time-consuming, even scary at times. Why, then, do so few leaders invest in growing more time for themselves?

 My experience suggests two root causes:

 1. Fear of consequences of a little less micromanagement

  “If I relax 10%, results (esp. earnings) will drop 20%” was actually asserted.

  “If I want it done right, I have to do it myself. Or be in the middle of it.”

  “No one on my team is good enough to turn loose.”

 2. Attitude toward soft skills (think: behavior, motivation and culture)

  “It takes too long to change behaviors. We dont have that kind of time.”

  “You can’t change people. They are what they are.”

 These same leaders say they have no time to reflect, to think about the future of the business.  They are continuously involved in the detail, doing part of lower echelon jobs. They never have time for executive thinking, planning ahead, anticipating crises.

 SOLUTIONS: “FIELD EXPERIMENTS” TO TRY

 Leaders who do invest in growing their time say that leading the business is satisfying, rewarding, energizing, even fun. They view their time as something to grow, requiring a sort of farming: watering and fertilizing the crop, trying different seeds and growing techniques, leaving some areas fallow while tending others.

 What do these people do to grow their time? Here are some examples (there are many more) of “field experiments” I have encouraged my clients to try and adapt to their own styles:

 – Keep track of how you spend your day (do it each day for a couple of weeks). How much time are you spending in lower echelon jobs? How often do you spend your time doing deep dives (interrogating someone for all the details on a situation)?

– Do fewer deep dives yourself, teach others to do them, then ask them to do it regularly.

– Don’t go first in conversations/meetings. Find out what others think.

– Before any conversation or meeting, “count to one:” and ask yourself: what do I want the person to know, feel or want to do when it is  over? what do you want to learn?

– Take some risk in off-loading more to others after discussion of desired outcomes and approaches

– Focus on successes when people make mistakes and they will want to grow instead of avoid stepping up

– Move more quickly to replace people whose intellect just isn’t enough or whose attitude is toxic to others

– Anoint someone to be your #2 and see what burden they can take off your shoulders (they can wear this hat in addition to their day job)

– Hire a #2 if there is no one qualified inside

– After giving people a chance to step up, move more quickly to remove those who are slow to act, reward those who get things done and celebrate them

– Give yourself a written homework assignment, then discuss it with your most trusted, respected team member: My Job As Boss (what must I do/lead in the next 90 days vs. what others can lead/do and keep me posted)

– Give your direct reports a written homework assignment, then discuss it and correct it for waht you believe and how much you  trust each individual: “Comfort Zones:Pyramid”  (what topics or decvisions should go in each category from the top to the bottom, from the boss does it to I do it but need the boss’ approval to I do it and do not even report it to him/her). There is a memo on this in my faves archive.

– Try to push down the pyramid as much as you can.

  – Communicate what you are trying to accomplish in the next 90 days and ask people to propose a change in what they do or how they do it that would achieve the purposes sooner or with lower cost if only a policy or procedure were changed. You may be surprised. 

– List the jobs you do, then regularly fire yourself from the ones that can be done reasonably well by someone else (ask yourself each morning: “what must be done today and who else can I get to do it?”)

 A FINAL WORD

 If this seems to you to include teaching and mentoring and developing people you are right. Excellent leaders know that people development, fostering openness, achieving alignment all take time but grow the discretionary time of the leader as well as everyone else down the line.

 RESOURCES FOR MORE HELP

 Jim Blasingame, the small business advocate, has a brain trust you an call on. Much of the above was subject of a radio interview with him this morning. For more help, visit him at:

 Small Business Advocate

 Adam Bryant (New York Times, The Corner Office) often has interviews that address time choices and culture. Go to, for example (but go to earlier articles too:

The Corner Office

That’s just my view. What’s yours? If you found this useful, please tell your friends. If you have an idea of how to make it better, tell me.