If you are successful in reducing your day to day responsibilities so that you have an empty diary occasionally, you may be wondering what next – what to do with all this free time!
The temptation is to dive back into the detail but that’s to be avoided.
The job and duty of the business leader is to provide direction and to enable other members of the team.
Providing direction is partly about having a good idea where you want the business to be in six months or more – the vision – but in my experience, most leaders have that.
The missing piece is communication.
Circumstances change and the business environment changes. When that happens it’s time to communicate your vision again – and this is where many people fail. You have discussed the position with your closest advisers and adjusted your strategy, but have you told the team?
Taking Brexit as a recent example have you reconsidered your strategy and have you told the team – even if the strategy is no change.
The other part of being a leader is the enabling of the team.
Enabling others to take on responsibilities and tasks is extremely satisfying, especially when they are not sure they are capable!
This too is about communication. You have to be very clear on the required outcome, offer support and be approachable for the team.
In short, you cannot over-communicate but you most certainly can under communicate.
Keep an eye on the numbers but always remember that they are the result of the efforts of the team. Improve the effectiveness of the team and the numbers will show the
result.