Journal: advance your effectiveness. My thoughts, tips and experiences – shared with you.

Simple as ABC

Summer time comes with a lot of expectation. To go somewhere fun, to see family and friends, to take time off work, to catch up on hobbies…

The list is different for everyone but the common concern is – How will I manage?

 

What can YOU do to ensure a successful summer?

 

Let’s get practical. Here are a few tips – It’s about ABC:

 

It’s as simple as ABC!

• ACCEPT

• BOUNDARIES

• COMMUNICATE

 

A – Accept you can’t do it all.  – The most important yet the most challenging

This is easier said than done. If you push yourself hard enough, the likelihood is that you can get it all done – but at what cost?

 

It’s one thing to accept you can’t do it all; it’s a whole new ball game working out what not to do.

 

Don’t sweat the small stuff 

For many leaders, too much time is spent mulling over the small print and working in the weeds. Get strict on your time and understand the return of your efforts. Leaders are notorious for getting more hands on when the pressure is on. It’s actually one of the more important times to get that 80/20 rule up and running. When time is in short supply being ruthless with how you spend it is essential.

 

Prioritise what will have the greatest impact and work out what can wait

There will always be a list of important activities to complete but how important are they really? If you work on this, what other activity will you stop? Stakeholder management becomes key – YOU can take a proactive approach to shape and influence your stakeholders expectations. The likelihood is that they are in a similar boat to you and will welcome your initiative.

 

Get the work you enjoy done first – Working within your zone of creative tension is important. Pull back too much and you’ll feel anxious. Take on too much and you’ll feel anxious. Just like Goldilocks, find that bowl of porridge that’s just right. A quick way of doing this is to  look at what’s on and start your day with what gives you energy. It’s the secret sauce to creating momentum for YOU.

 

B – Build Boundaries 

 

Once you have worked out what you’re saying yes to – stick to it! Boundaries are there to protect YOU and your effectiveness. A way of owning your space and being transparent with yourself and others.

 

You’ve accepted you can’t do it all – this is when the fun begins.

 

Leadership Effectiveness is about establishing boundaries that achieve success without burning-out and wasting time. It’s about knowing your strengths, owning your limitations (work, family, summertime dynamics) and being laser sharp in your decision making.

 

Ignore the white noise and skilfully separate the chit-chat from the facts

 

focus on what will have the greatest impact, and gain support from your sponsors – AKA who needs to know?

 

Reestablish realistic goals and build in timelines that will set you up for summertime success.  The key is to work out at what pace, be clear on what you can do and agree what moves to the long list (post summer).

 

 

C – Communicate with Courage

Ever been in one of those situations when what you thought was happening isn’t the case and you’re left thinking – I’m sure we agreed on this!

 

Communicate, communicate and communicate again.

 

We all know how important communication is and it might surprise you that effective communication shows up as a development point in over 70% of the leadership assessments that I deliver. What I can tell you is that multi-mode communication is challenging. Why?

YOU have to adapt your message several times to ensure its understood and acted on – this is a skill that takes time to perfect and it can feel frustrating getting there.

 

Communicate with others 

Remember, your priority may not be the same for everyone and therefore not as important. When others are juggling, too, creating clarity is your most important action.

 

This isn’t about offloading your needs onto someone else but making sure

 

• Goals are aligned within a team
• Commitments are clear
• Must wins are highlighted

 

…Everything else is icing on the cake

 

Communicate with yourself 

Yes that’s right, have a chat with yourself. It’s all well and good facing off what your summertime commitments are with others but unless YOU are truly on board the whole season will become an internal battle between your desire to do it differently and your intrinsic arousal to do more.

 

Overall leading takes courage and during the summertime it’s about being honest with what’s possible – to yourself and others.

As Simple as ABC