How to Be a Strategic Leader When You're Constantly In Meetings
Sometimes, it can seem like the only time leaders have to strategise and plan ahead is when they're not in meetings. If you're frequently in meetings as part of your job, it can be difficult to find opportunities to focus on strategy and innovation with all the distraction of day-to-day work. So how can you make time to think strategically and creatively even when you're constantly in meetings or otherwise distracted?
What is strategic thinking?
What does it mean to be strategic? On a basic level, your strategy is a plan for getting from A to B. But on that definition, you could say you’re thinking strategically when you’re planning how to get out of the interminable project meeting and make it home for dinner.
But of course, that’s not what my clients are talking about when they are frustrated about their struggles for clear air to think creatively. The challenge for leaders is to raise their perspective so that they have more time to consider a “B” that is
broader in scope
longer-term, and
“thinks around corners”, planning for what-if rather than what-is.
It involves creativity and looking at problems and possibilities from different angles, rather than just thinking about what’s going on right now. Some of these different angles might include: how will people react when they hear about our strategy? How will competition respond? What opportunities or threats are we missing that could change our plan in an instant? How could we change the way we’re functioning to have more impact with less friction?
Having a long-term perspective is important because so many things can happen over time—both good and bad—that affect your organisation. If you’re only focused on executing today, you may not be aware of some risks that could sink your ship tomorrow.
Why you need to make time for strategic thinking even if you have no free time
When you’re up against it and feeling especially busy, it can be easy to justify skipping even 10 minutes of strategic thinking. It feels like a luxury you can’t afford. But many successful leaders will tell you that doing so is short-sighted: trying to run your team or company effectively without spending time on big-picture planning and creative problem solving—which really just means saying no more often than yes—is like trying to drive your car by focusing only on what's a metre in front of you.
Of course, it’s not easy in an era of constant noise: meetings, messages and notifications. It takes discipline and focus to make time for thinking—and even more discipline to say no when someone asks you for something that will take you away from your strategic planning time. But if you can do it, you'll be better off.
What’s more, if you want your team to be productive and execute on what you’ve planned, they need time—and room—to think strategically themselves. In fact, if your team aren’t given at least some time every day to work on their own priorities or do creative problem solving and planning, it can seriously undermine your collective ability to have impact. And there are serious repercussions when teams are working in silos because everyone has different agendas and no one is on board with how everyone else is working.
4 tips on how to make time for strategic thinking
Do a meetings audit. Meetings culture is pernicious. Bring rigour to your calendar. What meetings can you drop or delegate? Make sure your own meetings are concise and have a clear agenda. And when you create space in your calendar… don’t fill it with more meetings! Block out the space as “Thinking time” and keep it that way.
Take time at the beginning of your day: strategic thinking is important, but not urgent, and there are times when you’ll need to set it aside in order to handle urgent tasks. However, if you take some time in the morning—10 or 15 minutes even—to do some brainstorming or deep-thinking exercises, you’ll ensure that these strategies will work their way into your decision-making process throughout your day.
Schedule strategic thinking time on your calendar and – here’s the kicker – never delete it. Move it if you have to, but Do Not Delete. While we know strategy is an important thing, who has time for that when deadlines loom? If you schedule regular strategy sessions with yourself, though, it becomes much easier to find that time and make sure it happens.
Use a timer. That way, you can give the work your full focus without part of your brain worrying about how long you’ve been at it. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our own thoughts that we lose track of how long we’ve been working on something—and before we know it, hours have passed without us getting anything done! Set a timer for 45 minutes (or whatever amount of time works best for you) and use it as to help you deepen your concentration, knowing that a gentle reminder to move onto another task will happen when the time comes.
With so many meetings in a day, it’s challenging for people to take time out of their schedules and reflect on how they can best lead their teams. And yet, leadership is more about understanding than execution. It’s your job to drive strategy that will ultimately allow employees to work smarter, not harder. That means some serious reflection on your own part … the opposite of busywork.
Do you work in a highly meetings oriented organisation? How do you find space for creative and strategic thinking? Let me know!
Until next week,
Take care of yourself and others
Madeleine
PS. Want to work with me as you create and use clear space for thinking more strategically? Let me know. Send me a message to enquire, and please share with anyone you think may benefit.
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