[00:00:00] Janet Taggart: So, because you have limited time, you have opportunities before you. Opportunities such as determining which tasks are worthy of your effort and which tasks will provide the growth and learning for others and which tasks just aren’t important at all.

[00:00:30] Stephanie Willmore: Welcome to the Leadership Transformations Podcast. I’m your host, Stephanie Willmore, Accountability Coach with Peridot Circle Consulting. In this podcast, we explore real-life situations with the help of our two founders and principal consultants, Janet Taggart and Linda Linfield. Today, we are joined by Janet Taggart. 

[00:00:48] Janet specializes in empowering leadership transformation from the inside out, coaching, aspiring to executive leaders to become known for their highest value. Janet, one of your clients recently shared with you that they are struggling to achieve balance in their career. It’s an ongoing challenge, and it is something that a lot of leaders struggle with.

[00:01:09] It’s something that I hear in accountability sessions regularly. It’s something that you’ve mentioned other leaders have brought up in your executive coaching. And so if you were to coach somebody on achieving balance, what are some of the recommendations and strategies that you offer to help them optimize their time better at work?

[00:01:30] Janet Taggart: You know, you’re right, Stephanie, this is a pervasive problem. And it’s ongoing because our challenges are always changing and the time becomes an element there. I’m thinking right now of a newly minted executive leader and how easy, how easily and quickly they found themselves working all hours trying to get everything done because of all the new responsibilities as they shift from their old role into their new role.

[00:01:57] And this is a challenge for new leaders and well-seasoned executives. Balancing your time between work and home is challenging, and especially challenging for those working remotely since there’s little physical separation between your actual work environment and your personal space. Time is a limited resource, and so as your role in the organization grows, so do the demands on your time.

[00:02:21] This is especially true when a leader’s role or responsibility has changed or expands and with the changing environment in business, it’s like death and taxes. It’s always happening. So this is a really great question. It’s common for leaders of all stripes to feel the pinch during these times, and it’s also common for them to feel overwhelmed.

[00:02:44] And if you’re one of those who harbor perfectionistic tendencies, you feel an excessive level of self-inflicted stress. So while the situation for each person facing these challenges are specific and unique, there are some strategies that I thought I would share today that could help others. The first may be surprising, but the first is to recognize that the discomfort you’re feeling from not having enough time is a gift. What do I mean by that? Imagine your dream comes true and you had all the time you wanted to do, everything and anything. Imagine what would occupy your time. Probably a lot of less important, less valuable things. So because you have limited time, you have opportunities before you. Opportunities such as determining which tasks are worthy of your effort and which tasks will provide the growth and learning for others, and which tasks just aren’t important at all. 

[00:03:50] When we can look at this limitation of time, we can ask ourselves, what is this situation calling me to create and develop? Our definition of leadership is to cause something to happen that wouldn’t happen anyway, and because we’re limited in time, we’re being called upon to do that, exactly through this limitation. What would we cause to happen that wouldn’t happen anyway because we have a certain container of time and that container of time is not big enough for everything on your plate. So what do you do about that? Now we could go through a whole list of time management strategies that can help you more effectively use your time.

[00:04:33] And I often see that optimizing your time is just not enough. Depending on your situation, you may need to work on right sizing your work to your role. What do I mean by this? Well, first of all, this is a really important area so perk up your ears and hear that a lot of us, as we transition from one role to another or we get additional responsibilities, we often hold on to the work that brought us a claim earlier in our careers.

[00:05:11] And often that’s more individual contributor type work or more menial or less-valued work, but we received a lot of attention for that, and it’s easy to want to hold on to that because that’s where we started to grow our brand. And what I’m saying is that if you’re feeling a pinch for time, take a look and ask yourself if you need to grow into a more elevated version of yourself.

[00:05:40] This cannot be overstated. Every organization is unique in what they expect from their leaders. And so you need to decide what you are most capable of doing as a person occupying the role that you have, whether it’s a new role or an expanded role. Now, this is a negotiation, not a demand is not for you to go to your leader and say, “I am now a team lead,” or, “I am now a director and therefore I will no longer do this work and I will only do this work.”

[00:06:20] Every organization is a little different, and sometimes they expect their leaders to still do some of that more technical or individual type work, and so there’s a hybrid so you want to negotiate that point. The reason this is so important, though, it’s usually the individual leader that does these types of less valuable, less congruent with the role that they have, that they do those types of things against the wishes of their manager.

[00:06:51] Their manager wish they would shed those types of aspects of their role. So important point. So another strategy is delegation. And I know you’ve probably have heard this before, especially if you’re in leadership and you know that delegation will provide opportunities for growth by helping others to develop those skills.

[00:07:14] What we have found that many leaders who struggle with this feel like they’re being unkind by giving the less important, more menial work to others. They worry about overtaxing their employees because they’re, we’re all busy and yet it’s really important to keep in mind that your employees need to be stretched just like you were earlier in your career and are being stretched right now.

[00:07:37] Feeling a sense of ownership, giving them the opportunity to negotiate what they can and can’t do given their own time constraints. So important. And if this is difficult, keep in mind as another incentive is that you may be overprotecting your employees. You may be preventing their growth and their ability to expand their abilities.

[00:08:04] So, important. So delegate. Next, get additional help. Now, depending on what this looks like for you, we can always add additional headcount to our teams. And sometimes there’s specialized skills that you need to obtain and waiting for your team members to uplevel those skills. They may not be able to do that in time.

[00:08:31] So sometimes you need to outsource or pull resources with other leaders to get certain tasks done. One leader I worked with had an email inbox out of control. This was an executive leader and we talked about those email management strategies, but optimizing your strategies, again, aren’t often the answer.

[00:08:50] You’ve already worked on those strategies over time. What became apparent is that because the company culture was CC’ing even leaders on every single email, it was very hard. I would say practically impossible to filter through his inbox for the salient emails he needed to address. So for this leader, an executive assistant was the answer.

[00:09:16] For other leaders, it’s outsourcing these tasks where the skills aren’t developed on their team. And we’ve become an outsource vendor for organizations providing their end-to-end learning development for all their employees. We’ve filled the gaps for others who have an L&D strategy, and we’ve filled that gap by training their new and experienced managers and providing customized workshops, and we’ve even helped team and department leaders develop their team members in a way that makes sense for their people. Finally, prioritizing what you do to the business’s appetite for your role’s responsibilities. What do I mean by that? There are times when what your organization expects of you in your role outpaces what is reasonable and appropriate, given the resources available.

[00:10:10] This is often the case, Stephanie, as you mentioned, we work with a lot of technical folks, and these roles are, they’re opaque. Leaders don’t understand what happens with technology, and because you can explain it in one sentence, does not capture the nuances and the layers of complexity required in order to get something done.

[00:10:36] And so it’s, this step is very important that you learn to communicate what you’re trying to achieve and what trade-offs you are making. This courageous authenticity and being able to explain that there are limits to what you can and can’t do is vital. It’s a highly important and less-developed skill of all the skills that we work with.

[00:11:06] Now, what’s important here is that you are seen as being supportive and a team player while you’re also communicating what, given the time and resources, you’re able to do and what that means in terms of what you won’t be able to do. So that can be a difficult conversation, especially when we’re trying so hard to be able to show our value and be a real asset to the organization.

[00:11:35] So those are some of the strategies that we help our clients to understand and work through in their own situation so that they can do what’s necessary, to look at their time constraints as a real gift, as a calling to them, to be able to cause something to happen that wouldn’t happen before, to exercise their leadership in setting the priorities and being able to be supportive of what the organization’s real needs are. So I hope that’s helpful. 

[00:12:10] Stephanie Willmore: I think it’s extremely helpful. Thank you, Janet. I think it’s so insightful to look at the issue of time management and being pressed for time all the time as an opportunity, as a real way to say, “Am I doing this in the best possible way? And in the best case scenario, How can I make some meaningful changes and how can I also create opportunities for others,” especially those who are my direct reports to have new opportunities and to right size yourself. So there’s so many strategies that you offered here that are so practical and applicable and I think a lot of leaders will find them helpful, so thank you. 

[00:12:46] And to our listeners, we invite you to appreciate the experiences that have brought you here to this moment of your life’s journey, and we invite you to stay open to the possibilities within you. You are meant for greater things. Until next time.

At Peridot Circle, we facilitate the growth and transformation of individuals, leaders, and emerging leaders of fast-growing tech-savvy organizations. If any of our listeners are interested in learning more about our approach to leadership coaching at Peridot Circle Consulting and how to help transform how you show up at work, book a consult with us online at peridotcircleconsulting.com. We would love to help you and your organization achieve more than ever before.