It always makes me smile when I ask an executive how they are and the instant response is “Busy”. Of course! I honestly can’t remember the last time a leader told me they weren’t busy. Most are managing full calendars, back-to-back meetings, hundreds of emails, problems to solve and people waiting for decisions.
For many leaders, being busy has almost become a measure of success. If we’re flat out, we must be important. We must be adding value.
I’m not convinced.
Being busy is easy. Thinking is hard.
It is much easier to spend a day responding to emails than it is to spend an hour thinking about where the business needs to be in three years. It is easier to attend another meeting than to have the difficult conversation you have been avoiding. And it is often easier to solve someone else’s problem than to coach them to solve it themselves.
There is satisfaction in being busy. We tick things off, answer messages, clear the inbox and leave work exhausted. It feels productive because we have plenty of evidence that we did something.
Activity, however, tells us very little about impact.
Some of the most valuable work a leader does produces no immediate result. Time spent thinking, listening, making an important decision or developing someone’s capability can look remarkably unproductive on a calendar. Yet these are often the activities that have the greatest effect on the organisation.
Making time for strategic thinking
Strategic thinking for leaders requires more than blocking out an hour and hoping nobody interrupts. It begins with recognising which work genuinely requires your experience, judgement and authority.
One exercise we use in executive coaching is to ask leaders to look at tomorrow’s calendar and consider one question:
Which of these activities could only be done by me?
The question is different from “What do I have to do?” Most calendars contain plenty of tasks that feel necessary. Far fewer contain work that could only be done by that person in their leadership role.
The answer can be confronting. Many executives realise they have become trapped in work that someone else could do, while the work requiring their particular judgement keeps being pushed to next week, next month and eventually next quarter.
This pattern also affects the team. When a leader becomes the answer to every question, people stop building the confidence to exercise their own judgement. Decisions slow down, responsibility moves upwards and the leader becomes increasingly busy because the team has learned to depend on them.
What does your role require from you?
Leadership is measured by the impact you create, rather than how exhausted you are at the end of the day. Sometimes that impact comes from making one difficult decision, having one meaningful conversation or spending two uninterrupted hours considering what the organisation needs next.
It can also come from stepping back. Coaching someone through a problem may take longer than giving them the answer today, but it builds capability for tomorrow. Delegating meaningful responsibility may initially require more thought and support, but it prevents every decision from returning to your desk.
Before the week disappears into meetings and messages, take ten minutes to review your calendar and ask:
- Which activities genuinely require my judgement?
- What am I doing that someone else could own?
- Which important decision or conversation am I postponing?
- Where does my team need coaching instead of another answer?
- Have I protected enough time to think beyond the immediate demands?
The best leaders I know are still busy. Their time, however, is directed towards the work that matters most: strengthening decisions, building confidence, developing people and helping the organisation move forward.
So, the next time someone asks how you are going, you will probably still say, “Busy.”
But see if you can ask yourself: Busy doing what?
The answer to that questions tells us far more about our leadership than the size of our calendar ever will.