Can an Effective Leader be Effective at Home?

“It depends on how you define effective” – understood.  But the real answer to this question is yes. And it starts with prioritization at work.

Prioritization:

As a leader, you should already know about the importance of prioritization. If you don’t prioritize the areas you should be focusing on in your role as a leader, you are actually wasting your time. Stop signing off on $1500 expense checks and focus on the big picture. Keep your long term vision in mind. Remember your strategy.

Try this out for size: create a list of all of the things you spend your time on at work. Now add how much time you spend on each task. Put the heavy hitters on the top of your list and the smaller ones at the bottom. Now go through from top to bottom and ask yourself these two questions: (1) is this an effective use of my time as a leader? (2) Does it directly tie into the growth strategy of my organization?

Time Management:

Now that you have identified those areas that may not be the best use of your time as a leader, it’s time to delegate. Or better said, it’s time to empower someone else to work on those projects. This is key in any leadership position. You must know when to bring in the very same people you spent several hours and a great deal of money hiring to manage some of those projects. And guess what? You are also prepping the future leaders of your company. Look at that, you are already being an effective leader … just by getting rid of some of your workload!

Seriously, this allows you to manage your time effectively. You now have in front of you the work that will grow your organization. The reason you were hired. You can now focus on those top three areas in which to move forward.

What Does This Have To Do With Being Effective at Home?

Simple. If you can prioritize your work in leadership, empower others to work on projects you should only be advising on and manage your time wisely, you might be able to get home in time to help your son with his homework before bed. Instead of being out 4 nights a week at networking events, maybe you can eat with the family once in a while because someone on your senior management team has your back. And instead of having daily conference calls on your way to work, maybe you can drive your daughter to school once in a while. And we haven’t even touched on how less stressful life will be if you use time as a tool for effectiveness.

An effective and happy leader at work = a happy home.