Ever feel so busy working that nothing gets done? You spend so much time fighting fires and keeping everyone on task that you’re not able work on your own projects? That your task list is the one that never gets completed?
That’s not your fault, says Alex Tremble, CEO at GPS Leadership Solutions. It’s a common problem leaders experience, particularly in small businesses. Being a leader and being a manager are two very different roles that are too often thrown together.
Businesses survive with managers in charge. But it is leaders, Tremble says, that enable businesses to thrive.
During a presentation last month at the HDA Truck Pride Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Md., Tremble shared how you can build boundaries in the workplace that will reduce the pressure to leap into every managerial task, keeping you focused on what’s necessary to lead your business forward.
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“The reality is, you’re never going to be in a situation where everything fits. There’s always going to be more to do,” Tremble says. “You have to decide what is really important to you.”
Tremble says identifying the latter requires a paradigm shift. To be a great leader, Tremble says you have to become highly effective. Referencing the landmark business leadership program from Stephen Covey, Tremble says highly effective leaders don’t spend time on what’s urgent, they spend time on what’s most important.
He also admits it’s easier said than done. Running a business is hard. It’s common to feel pulled in a hundred different directions, which is why Tremble says it feels so foreign to intentionally let things go.
“When you’re trying do it all, you’re much more likely to give in to urges of the moment,” he says. “Being highly effective is about focusing on your highest priorities. Staying true in the moment of choice.”
Wondering what this would look like in your business?
Think of all those “I’d like to speak to the manager moments.” When the customer wants you to cut them a deal. Maybe they used to buy a part at one price and now its 10% higher (due to rising acquisition costs) and they demand the old price.
Maybe you’re in a meeting with your sales manager at the time, discussing how rising prices will be handled company wide. If you leave that meeting to address one customer, how is your sales manager going to communicate with everyone else? Your sales team and customers alike? Especially if you relent in face of customer pressure. Will your sales team defend your margins if you don’t?
Maybe you’re expanding your online marketing plan. You’ve launched an ordering portal and you want customers to know about it. You know it’s important to the future viability of the business. But you have a warehouse guy out sick and deliveries are falling behind.
Tremble gets the pull to the loading dock. You can’t make any sales if you don’t deliver product. But an employee out sick is (hopefully) a one-day issue. A smart, actionable marketing plan shouldn’t be delayed or forgotten just to get two trucks out 30 minutes faster.
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“You have to make a choice,” Tremble says. “You’ll never have enough time and energy to do it all.”
Yet Tremble also acknowledges how changes can shake up workplace dynamics. If you’ve always been the person who races to the dock, to the counter, to the next problem, employees come to expect that. Tremble advises briefing your workforce on your intent to shift gears and empower them to problem solve without your input.
It’s hard but it’s essential if you want to become more effective, Tremble says, because nobody’s adding hours to the day.
“There is no such thing as free time,” he says. “Every minute is being used.”
