Marsh Carter’s Leadership View #4:
A leader must balance between near-term and long-term leadership and management tasks.
Hmm.. last week’s leadership view involved balance and here we are with the same subject line again. It does seem that balance is a key challenge for every leader.
Most leaders have a sense of urgency, entrepreneurs especially. Often it is this sense of urgency that got us where we are. And, much like balancing the needs of the organization with the needs of our followers, we must also recognize which of our goals belong in the long term column and which belong as short-term.
And it is certainly a balancing act, because for high urgency leaders, we sometimes move tasks into the now, when they belong in the future. If you are challenged with sorting between short term and long term initiatives, here is a suggested approach to get started.
Begin by capturing all the ideas, tasks and goals. Next ask yourself the following three questions for each item:
- How much time will it take to get this done?
- What will be the impact/outcome for the organization when this is done? (people, resources, capital, impact on other initiatives impact on customers, etc.)
- What will be the impact/outcome for the organization while we are getting this done? (people, resources, capital, impact on other initiatives impact on customers, etc.)
The initial results of my Pivot are excellent. I feel I have much greater clarity regarding the next 3-5 years.. 