In his attempt to emphasize the difference between efficiency and effectiveness, management guru Peter Drucker famously drew a line between “doing things right” and “doing the right things.”
Thus, the popular quotation: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.”
The ability to think about and do both every day is what constitutes balance in leadership. Getting there requires a disciplined attention to both strategy and tactics.
The problem is that leaders are commonly pulled away from thinking long-term. Leaders are notoriously busy getting things done. They attend to problems, issues, and fires. The day moves quickly from meeting to meeting, and from task to task.
On an everyday basis, execution normally takes precedence over long-term thinking. Day-to-day operations, project management, and important tasks squeeze out the time it takes to think strategically.
The best leaders reject this common practice. They don’t reserve strategic issues just for thought sessions on weekends, off-sites, or planning days.
They dedicate time each day to tackle the bigger issues and to think long-term.
They know that without giving time to strategic issues every day, they lose sight of the big picture and risk doing the wrong things.
They commit time each day to establishing long-term goals, analyzing market trends, identifying opportunities for growth, formulating policies and directives, dissecting future challenges, and debating resource allocation.
The best leaders don’t let a day go by without talking to a handful of those they know, just to hear about what others are thinking and seeing.They know that task-myopia can blind them to the realities that influence their long-term success. They talk to others to learn, explore, and engage, but most of all, to escape the constraints of conventional thinking.
Spending an hour or more every day on bigger-picture thinking not only ensures effectiveness, but it also shows the team that planning is essential for excellence in execution.
Getting your head out of the weeds for an hour allows leaders to catch their breath and visualize what success looks like.
Good leaders find satisfaction in the details and inspiration in the big picture. They need a steady diet of both to achieve extraordinary results.
How much of your day is consumed by tasks? How often do you take a step back and plan for opportunities and challenges? Make it every day.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
