At the heart of any successful and sustainable business is a strong leadership team. That will start with the founder or business owners but extends to the entire C-suite and directors. 

The demands on their time are immense and can be overwhelming. There is the need to be on top of all issues from managing domestic and international growth to navigating economic and political uncertainty, embracing changing technology whilst ensuring an engaged and inclusive workplace, and all the time balancing short-term financial results with long-term sustainable growth.

As a business grows in size and complexity, so do the challenges that land on leaders’ desks. The ability to prioritise effectively, delegate and maintain focus becomes an increasingly important skill. But when it is your business, that you have built from the ground up and have been across the entire business, that is not always easy to do.

As the nature of the workforce changes, those time pressures are likely to become amplified. A lot of businesses now have four generations in the workplace and their needs are very different. Younger generations, broadly speaking, expect a flat corporate structure and regular feedback. They want to be more involved, and that is likely to add greater pressure on leadership teams. The reward is hopefully more engaged and motivated team members.

With the complexity and uncertainty of the world today, coupled with the speed of change and expectations, leaders act more as a ‘connector’ and ‘interpreter’ of business challenges engaging and inspiring their people and teams.

Time is, as it perhaps always has been, the most precious resource business leaders have – and it is in increasingly short supply.

The actions of business leaders matter. They shape the way the business operates and its culture. For a start-up business, it is understandable and sensible for a founder to be all over the business – from finance, sales and marketing to HR. But that is not sustainable as a business scales up and evolves into, hopefully, a large and successful entity.

Successful business leaders quickly recognise that they cannot, and should not, do everything. They have no choice but to delegate. Here, however, a new challenge emerges, where is the line between micro-management and being too hands-off?

There is no straightforward answer, and it is often only after a period of trial and error that the natural balance is found.

It is vitally important that leaders carve time out of the diary to be ‘on top of the business’ and not just ‘immersed in the business’. That is the key to building a sustainable business. In my experience, this time needs to be planned and scheduled – if not, the diary will quickly be filled.

I have learnt a lot from a very good friend of mine who has built a large multi-franchise business. It is a deceptively simple lesson - it is ‘trust’. Those you appoint to senior positions need to be trusted to do their job, and that often means leaving them to do their job without interference.

Of course, a good leader is there to provide direction, guidance and support, but recognise the talent in your business and empower them to do their job. They will invariably fly.

This will free up a surprising amount of your time, but it will do more than that – it will build a culture of leadership, encouragement and support across the business. And that is worth its weight in gold.

The ‘five whys’ 

Using the ‘five whys’ problem-solving technique can be a very useful and practical way to help discover the root cause of an issue and find a solution. An example of how this model can be adapted towards this issue is below.

Why… are there so many demands on your time?
• Because leaders are having to spend an increasing amount of time on people leadership. This is in addition to their day-to-day responsibilities.

Why… is there this greater focus on people leadership?
• Because the nature of the workforce and their expectations as well as that of the world have changed.

Why… have the expectations of people and the world changed?
• Because of the amount and pace of change and uncertainty they have been faced with over the past four years. New generations with different experiences are entering the workforce. People want to be included, to grow and develop. The world wants organisations to care more about society today and for the future.

Why… can’t you delegate people leadership to others?
• There is a change in expectation that leaders should be more accessible and visible. And you are the leader and want to lead in this area.

Why… can’t you delegate other more traditional aspects of leadership or other areas of people engagement to others?

• You can… Take a step back and review what can be delegated to someone else and allocate clear lines of responsibilities.       

The expectation of leaders has evolved to be much more people and socially focused than it has been in the past. Leaders cannot control all the areas they always have done as there is so much more an organisation now needs to deal with. They need to have a broader perspective and create an environment, and people they can trust, to help make things happen.