Think Bigg-r

I am unimpressed when leaders tell me “my calendar is full”.  They are mostly managing time and not themselves.  If you agree that your role as a leader is to serve and inspire your teams, how can you achieve this if you are never available?

Some leaders even believe that a big part of their role is to sit in on meetings.  They likely attend meetings unprepared because they attend so many meetings, not challenging the effectiveness of meetings.  They are potentially agreeable by nature or have difficulty to say no to meeting invites that are not important.  

Start to free up your calendar by asking yourself these questions: –

1. Do I proactively focus on important stuff before it becomes urgent?
2. Am I able to say NO in a polite but unapologetic manner?
3. Do I delegate in terms of expected results rather than the supervision of methods?
4. Do I organize and execute my calendar around balanced priorities (alignment with personal mission statement)?
5. Does my calendar help me to create and maintain balance in my life?
6. Do I schedule my priorities, or am I just prioritizing what’s already on my schedule?

I used to believe that if you wanted something done, give it to a busy person. Maybe good for me but not necessarily for them.  Busy could mean that you are being acted on by others rather than proactively acting on important matters yourself. Busy is effective when focused on enhancing relationships and accomplishing results. 

Taking a closer look at calendars while counselling, I often observe “tentative meeting acceptances”. Those with a genuine desire to improve self reflect on these two aspects: –

1. Their failure to decide upfront on the importance or not of participating; or if they knew that it was unimportant, they recognize that they were not able to say NO,
2. Their failure to comprehend that the person planning the meeting cannot conduct an effective process if they do not know in advance who is “on the bus”.

Some justify the value of having tentative meetings on their calendar.  It takes intrinsic value to be open to other perspectives.  I am not advocating against the concept of tentative meetings, rather giving different perspectives to think about, and to free up your calendar.

If you believe in the effectiveness of tentative meeting acceptances, at least consider and compensate for the negative impact on the meeting initiator who does not know who will be participating. Think Win / Win.

Leave space on your calendar for spontaneous moments with your team. Focus on relationships, clarify the results that you expect of them and serve them; they will perform to their potential rather than to the compulsory minimum.

Do not equate the presence in meetings with productivity. Following an inside-out approach, ensure that your reports are empowered to decline meetings; that they can provide information prior and follow-up after if more appropriate. If your teams know that you will not judge them then they will not have a fear of missing out.

My last boss scheduled meetings at a time convenient for him, not considering time differences , our needs or our schedules. He either did not understand that we might be doing something more valuable, or his intent could have been a selfish urgency bordering on malicious. I was self motivated, but never underestimate how many employees simply tune out.

In a culture of collective meetings addiction there is likely no understanding of the makeup and quantum of the different costs related to ineffective meetings. Again the inside-out approach, we must work towards healthier communication practices and more-effective interactions that will result in cleaner calendars.