“Leaders should never be satisfied. They must always strive to improve, and they must build that mind-set into the team. They must face the facts through a realistic, brutally honest assessment of themselves and their team's performance.”
Jocko Willink
A leadership conundrum: staying strategic vs spending time doing the job
As someone growing from volunteer to CEO of the same organisation and seeing it 10x over that time frame, it’s been a challenge to detach.
Yes that is what is needed from people in leadership positions: they are being tasked with looking out and looking ahead. When your head is pointing down whilst you’re busy doing the job, you can’t fulfill your strategic work.
But what happens when you are so detached from it all that your decisions are based only on spreadsheets and not on the experience of your workers and customers?
Neither way will make you a successful leader.
But it’s also not about just finding the “middle path”.
If your job is strategic than you need to spend 80% of your time in that realm. Because unless you do it, that work won’t get done and your business might not be there in a year’s time.
The important part is those other 20%. These need to spend walking the “shop floor”, talking to people, being available to them and for me, most importantly, rolling your sleeves up and doing the job.
Yesterday was such a day.
Instead of meetings, emails and screen time, I spent the day outdoors with our wonderful people and walked away with a physical product of a day’s work.
A day like this allows a leader to reconnect, listen to what’s really going on and also appreciate the daily work that is the foundation of the business.
How do you spend your 20%?
Another vital element for any leader is who they surround themselves with.
This question is often discussed in terms of building a team of excellence around yourself. But for me it’s not confined to just the working environment. I thrive when I connect with people who push themselves in ways that inspire me.
Which is why I feel so honoured to be part of the great team at Omnia Performance. Last Saturday we went for a 10k run in the city and being around people who seek to become better versions of themselves through various challenges and in different fields of life is so important to me.
Who is that in your world and if you’re lacking it, can you identify a group or sport which might give you access to those people?
And although I desire and thrive in these environments, the most important aspect is knowing why I push myself:
And lastly the picture of this week is a snapshot I took when walking to the car after my eldest’s school team won another game in their Edinburgh League Basketball tournament. Edinburgh is a very special place indeed…
This Week’s Picture of Scotland
And if you’d like help putting systems in place to help you achieve your personal goals amidst the competing demands of work and family life, please get in touch here.
for me, I think I have responded instinctually to that need for the 20% of connection time by reading a lot of authors here in Substack, and expressing my support for people. And it’s not hard at all to do, in fact, it is a deep pleasure, because there’s so much talent and thoughtfulness here. Your perspective, standard of excellence, and sharing here is an example of that.