A business is the mirror image of its leader. The performance of the business is highly dependent on its leadership. Successful businesses have great leadership. Similarly, poor leaders contribute to the business failure due to the lack of their abilities.
The importance of leadership in business must be properly understood, because leadership can make or break a business. The actions (or a lack of them) of a leader impact the business immensely. Hence, a business leader must be careful about his role in the business. He should carefully chart the course of the business, because he is the captain of the ship.
He should be always aware and alert about where the business is heading and where it has to go. He should find and nurture good people and build a strong team which can work together productively. He should build a robust organization which can withstand the tests of time and circumstances. All this must be done along with producing sustainable business results and achieving steady growth.
If the leader doesn’t set the right agenda, if he can’t build a strong team, if he can’t establish effective systems and processes, if he can’t produce expected business returns, he fails. And the impact of such a failure is larger than a simple individual career failure because a business impacts the lives of a big number of people and their families. Hence, the role of leadership in business assumes higher significance.
It is worthwhile to know and understand what a leader should do to lead a business successfully.
Responsibility # 1. To Provide a Direction to the Business:
A business is like a big, long rowing boat which has many rowers working hard to propel it forward. The success of this boat in a race is possible only if all people involved in rowing it do it in harmony, if all their efforts are well-orchestrated. If all people work hard but in different directions, without following the instructions, their efforts will go in vain. The boat will slow down and will go haywire.
A business has many similarities to this boat. A business also has many people working in it. The efforts of all must be in tandem, in harmony with each other, such that they help the business move forward in the right direction. If their actions are not coordinated, their efforts will be wasted and the business will falter away.
So, the most important task of a leader is to provide the right direction to the business and be watchful about the course it takes.
The journey of a business starts when the founder(s) start the business to provide a solution to customers through a product or a service. They may have a purpose behind starting the business. They may also have some estimate about the potential of the business and to which scale it can grow. But, as time passes, more and more people join the business. Each one of them may be coming from different backgrounds and experiences and with different priorities.
The team joining hands with the founders may not be as clear about the purpose or potential of the business. But, the efforts of all these employees must be coordinated well. To synergize the efforts of all the people working in a business, the business leaders must set the larger picture of the business.
Everybody in the business should know what the business is trying to achieve, where it is headed, what it stands for. To communicate these goals to the people who work for the business, the leader must establish and articulate Mission, Values and Vision of the business.
The mission is the purpose of the business. It is the reason for the existence of the business. Mission is the first thing that must be finalized in our efforts towards finalizing the direction of the company. Mission of a business is everlasting, as long as the business exists. It may be changed or tweaked, but not frequently.
To help formulating a mission statement, answers to the following questions can be helpful-
Why was the business started by the founder?
Was it to make some money?
Was it to create a name?
Was it to prove something?
Was it to follow a passion?
Was it to serve the society in some way? To make a difference?
Was it to solve some customer problem? To make her life easier?
The answers to these questions may lead to the mission of the business.
It should be clear that a company’s mission should not be to make a profit, but it should be what it will do to make a profit. Profit may be an objective or intended outcome of the mission, but not the mission itself.
Ideally the mission of any business must be to positively impact the customers’ lives, to bring a positive change in their lives. The mission of a business must be to make this world a better place by making the customer’s life better through its product or service.
The focus of the mission should be on what we can do for the customer, how we can help her. It should not be on what we will get out of her.
The objective of making a profit will be achieved only if the mission of the business is successfully fulfilled. So, a company must focus on fulfilling its mission first, i.e. serving the customers in a way that it changes their lives positively.
The overall purpose or mission of the business should be such that it guides all the important decisions throughout its lifetime. The next generations of the founder(s) should be able to derive guidance from this purpose. It should provide them a direction in which to chart the course of the business. With a consistent mission, a business can continue its journey uninterrupted even if the ownership or the product line changes.
Everybody entering the business (as an employee or as an owner family member) must be clear about the purpose of the business.
So, the mission is the first things that the founder(s) must clearly establish if they wish the business to continue and thrive beyond their own lives.
Examples of some of the famous companies’ mission statements:
a. We save people money so they can even better.
b. To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
c. To help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.
d. Rewrite rules, retain values.
e. To deliver superior value to our customers, shareholders, employees and society at large.
Examples of some smaller companies’/firms’ mission statements:
a. A sweets supplier- To add sweetness in every celebration.
b. An insurance agent- To provide security and peace of mind.
c. A garment showroom chain- To add confidence to people’s personality.
d. An interior decoration material company.
e. To make our clients’ living and work places elegant.
Moral values are the guiding principles which a business will always abide by and with which it will never compromise.
They answers the following:
What are the moral values that we will always follow in all our business transactions?
How will we treat our customers, employees, suppliers, society and the government?
How will our business be known by all the parties with whom we deal?
These are the principles which help us in making decisions or choices when multiple options exist.
Our moral values must not remain just decorative words on our reception, conference room, web site or brochures, but they must be a part of our daily practice and conduct.
Everybody who deals with our business must get to experience these moral values through our practices.
When the business ownership changes hands from the founder(s) to the next generation, the new leaders of the business can get a lot of clarity in making various choices about policies towards customers, employees, vendors, society etc.
The consistent practice of established values lends a consistency to the business practices.
Establishing a clear set of values to be followed by the business is one important step towards the smooth running of a family business for generations to come.
Some examples of value- Integrity, Honesty, Respect, Fairness, Trust, Care, Commitment, Passion, Speed, Customer Focus, Understanding, Excellence, Unity, Responsibility etc.
A business leader must always remember that the business exists for fulfilling some mission. To track its progress on the journey towards fulfilling the mission of making a positive difference in the world, the organization must set periodic milestones which it wishes to achieve. A vision is the next near term milestone a business wishes to achieve.
A vision sets the agenda about where does the company want to reach?
A vision gives a direction to the efforts of everybody in the company.
A business leader must articulate the vision to the company employees in such a way that it wins their commitment and energizes them to act in ways that move the company along its intended growth path.
A clear vision gives clarity to the employees of the company about what they all collectively have to achieve.
Unlike a mission, a vision is time bound. It needs a periodic revision. A vision may be for few years. Periodically, a vision gets accomplished. Then new, revised vision must be set.
Visions which aim at turnover or profit or growth rate do not excite all employees unless they see some benefit to them in the increased revenue, profit or growth rate.
Here are some examples of possible energizing visions-
To become the most preferred brand by the year_______.
To become the leader in market share by the year______.
To achieve 100% customer satisfaction by the year______.
To reach every third home in the country by the year_______.
To have x number of branches in the next 3 years.
To be present in y number of countries in the next 5 years.
A company’s vision may span across a few years. It should be broken into annual milestones. These milestones can be further divided into goals.
Goals give a definite focus to synergize all the energies of the employees of the company towards a set of objectives. It is a great motivation factor in any organization to work as a team to achieve together. Every goal must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-Bound).
Some ideas for the organization to set goals are- Sales turnover, Profitability, Market share, Profit margin, Return on capital employed, Earning per share etc.
The leader must guide the company to set goals as per the mission, vision and priorities of the company.
These goals can become the central theme around which all the activities within an organization can be organized.
A leader must keep his eyes on the future. He must try to understand trends which are shaping up the tomorrow. He should be able to guess what is around the corner, what is coming up. For that, the leader must be constantly updated about the developments in the industry and in the market of his business. He should also keep a watch on the developments in technology and the global markets.
For getting awareness about the new trends, a leader can do the following:
i. Studying industry related literature (Journals, magazines, web sites etc.)
ii. Visiting the events and exhibitions of his own industry as well as his customer and vendor industries.
iii. Actively participating in the industry association’s activities, either as a part of the committee or as a participant in the association meetings and events. Participating in the association activities helps one in networking with the other industry people. It also provides an opportunity to establish oneself as a leader, if one chooses to do so. Moreover, we get to know the developments shaping up our industry.
iv. Regularly keeping in touch with the customers to get an early idea about how customer tastes and preferences are changing or to know what the competitors are doing.
v. Spending some time in trying to gauge the customer’s requirements in future.
A leader can set a vision only through his ability to set his aim into the future.
Every business is started to fulfill some needs of the customers or to solve some problems of the customers. A business leader must ensure that the business is attracting and retaining more and more customers. The company’s customer base should continuously increase. In the highly competitive and ever changing markets, this is possible only through continuous innovation.
Through ongoing innovation process, a business must constantly strive to improve its-Products or services, internal processes, Customer focus, Marketing activities, Costs.
To keep the spirit of innovation alive in the business is the leader’s responsibility. The leader must create a culture in the organization such that creativity is nurtured, new ideas are encouraged and mistakes are taken as learning experiences.
Responsibility # 2. Building and Motivating the Team:
No great business can be built without people. Nobody can do everything alone. Any company needs a great team if it wants to grow big. A great team is a critical component in building a great business. As a business leader, it must be our priority to find and retain the right people and get them work together.
A company can produce great performance only if all its employees work together. Our business success is directly proportional to our success in building a team of excellent employees. In order to enable team building in our company, we must bring people together, facilitate interaction and encourage working together.
Selecting the Right People, Promoting Merit:
A right team can be formed only by the right people. While recruiting new people, you must ensure that you select the people with the right credentials and attitude to get entry into your team. Choose only those people who can align with your mission, values and vision.
Also, institute a very transparent and objective performance management system in your company such that only meritorious employees get promoted. Don’t allow any partiality in employee selection or promotion process. It will discourage your other affected employees profoundly.
Even though it may be our own company, we must not bring our ego to our business. If we do, we may not be able to work with many people. Everybody needs recognition, appreciation and encouragement for their contribution into anything. If we are self-absorbed, we may not realize or recognize the significance of others.
Every small employee in our business can help it grow. As a leader, we must appreciate every good work done by any employee. When the business achieves something, we must give its credit to everybody in the business for that achievement. Our business succeeds or fails because of our team. Remember, we are also a part of our business team and there is no T in a TEAM…!
Conflicts are common wherever human beings interact. Organizations also face problems of conflicts among employees, teams, customers, channel partners, vendors etc. Conflicts are speed breakers that slow down the organization’s pace.
The possible reasons for the conflicts in our teams may be conflicting interests, motives, priorities, cultures, natures, values etc. of the persons involved. Other reasons could be misunderstandings, communication errors, personal egos etc. Whatever the reason, the leader has to ensure that the conflicts in his organization are resolved at the earliest to continue the company’s growth journey uninterrupted.
Guidelines for Conflict Resolution:
i. Give a priority to the good relationships among team members. Encourage all team members to build mutual respect and be courteous to each other. Also, try to build a culture of continuous positive communication among team members.
ii. Keep people and problems separate. We should be impartial while resolving conflicts. We should pay attention to the interests that are being presented from both the sides and try to find the real and valid differences behind the conflicting positions.
iii. Listen first, talk second. Listen actively. We must focus on what is being said and should not be in a hurry to conclude or give a judgment.
iv. Listen to both the sides before concluding anything. Always consider both the sides of a story, to get the complete perspective.
v. Set out the “Facts”. Take decision based on factual data and not on opinions, past experiences or prejudices.
vi. Take a joint decision. Involve all the participants while taking any decision regarding the resolution.
Empowerment, Helping People Grow:
The team as a group and the employees as individuals must be empowered to take necessary decisions independently in order to function efficiently and promptly. If we give responsibilities to people but do not give them authority or power necessary to fulfill those responsibilities, they may not be able to produce results as effectively and promptly as we may expect.
Also, fulfilling responsibilities by making judicious use of power helps people grow. We must give opportunities to our people to show their abilities, to grow. Wise use of power is one good indicator of personal ability. So, empowerment also helps us identify the right talent within our team who can be developed further.
Developing an organization requires a lot of patience in the leader. People are different. They learn differently, at different pace. They behave differently. If we wish to bring them all together and get them working together, we must be patient. Remember, a small rowing boat with a single rower can start faster, but can’t go a very long distance.
On the other hand, a rowing boat with 100 rowers takes time to gather momentum, but once it does, it can go a much longer distance. Big organizations are not always agile, they react slowly. But they can do much bigger things, which small ones can’t imagine. That is how big organizations are. We must remain patient while the elephant moves.
Build robust communication culture within the company. Develop a culture of regular, free, healthy, positive and transparent communication across the organization. On your part as the leader of the company, make a habit of always communicating in a clear, positive way.
As a leader, you should be always available to your organization for receiving communication. Your employees should not be afraid to communicate to you. If you are approachable, your people at all levels will feel safe working in your company. You may also get a lot of valuable inputs, ideas, feedback and suggestion from them.
Our positive, encouraging words can motivate and inspire our people. Our negative, insulting words can discourage people. We need to use our communication responsibly. We must make sure that our communication builds our organization, and does not break it. We must make our people feel better and bigger after their communication with us.
Please remember while communicating with your employees that you do not violate any norms or breach any organization structure guidelines. We should not give any direct instruction to anybody bypassing their manager. While giving instructions, always follow the route of proper channel.
Also, 50% communication is listening. As a leader, we must listen to our people actively. It helps us know our people better. It may give us a lot of insight into our organization and sometimes some idea or solution, too. So, we must communicate positively, and spend a half of our communication time listening, really “listening”.
Respect is a positive character trait. We must respect everybody in our company. No matter how small or big the person is in his or her role in the organization, we must be always humble and polite with them. If we deal with our people respectfully, they will behave in the same way with each other and also with our customers and suppliers. Give your employees respect. They will pass it on to your customers. Respect is a good quality to spread.
Walking the Talk, Keeping Your Word, Building Trust:
As a leader, you must practice what you preach. If your employees observe that you do what you say, their trust in you will increase. On the contrary, if your words and actions don’t match, you won’t win the trust of your people. Your authenticity as a leader will always remain questionable. The employees do as the leader does. So, if you wish that your employees keep their word, you must keep your word. Walk the talk.
Being a Role Model, Setting the Right Example:
As a leader, the example that you establish in your character, attitude, personality, and work habits and especially the way you treat other people, sets the standards for your organization. Your people follow your example. If the general conducts himself well, soldiers will be inspired to do the same.
Your company is always a mirror image of yourself. Be a role model for your employees. Let them learn good things from their leader.
Punctuality is a sign of self-discipline and integrity. As a leader, we must do everything on time. If we are not punctual, we can’t expect our employees to be punctual. By not being punctual, we nurture a culture of unpunctuality in our company.
Employees in such a culture don’t take their time seriously. They hardly do things on time. They don’t fulfill their promises to customers on time. Such a company always fails in its commitments to others. We must be always on time to foster timeliness in our company culture.
The leader of the organization has to work hard. In fact, he should work the hardest of all. If you believe that “I am the owner, so I can relax and work less. I am paying my employees to work, so they will work for me, allowing me to relax”, you are grossly mistaken.
As the business leader, you must work the hardest. The chief of the army can’t sit at his home and give orders to troops to fight on the battlefield. No battle can be won like that. The chief has to be there where his troops are. On the battlefield. Ideally, the business leader must put more hours into work than any of his employees do. Leadership is not authority only. It is a responsibility. And not an easy one.
Being There, Standing by Your Team:
You must be there when your team needs you, when they are facing a challenge. A leader’s presence among them inspires the team greatly. Moreover, stand by them when they realize that they have made a mistake. Support them when things go wrong when the leader stands by them when they are in trouble, the employees develop a deep sense of respect for the leader and loyalty towards the organization.
Periodically, everybody may need motivation. So do our employees. You must motivate them to follow your vision, to support and achieve the goals that you have set, to buy into the mission of the company as you see it. Today, getting the employees to follow you takes more than authority and power. You have to earn their trust, respect and commitment. That is the key to long-term success as a business leader.
The most important thing that the followers seek from their leader is hope. Give your people hope. They must feel secure about their career growth and about fulfilling their personal goals. Help them set and realize dreams by enrolling them into your vision and show them your commitment to achieve it.
Responsibility # 3. Developing the Organization:
An organization is like a human body. Right from its birth, it must be nurtured, taken care of, saved from diseases and strengthened to avoid getting diseased. Its good health must be ensured.
To fulfill its mission, the organization must be developed to do more, to scale higher and to achieve more.
Leadership is not only a position. It is a responsibility. As a business leader, your actions impact the lives of your employees, their families, your customers and vendors. So, while taking business decisions, you must take every step keeping this big responsibility in mind. If any of your actions affects the business adversely, that effect will have its impact on so many people and families in addition to your own life and family. So, you must conduct your business with utmost sincerity.
In today’s dynamic times, a business must be very agile. Things are changing very rapidly. To stay relevant in this ever changing scenario, a company must be able to change its ways of thinking and working promptly. People are resistant to change, naturally. It is the business leader’s responsibility to ensure positive change in the organization whenever it is required.
Organizational change is easier if it is initiated from the top by the leader. Organizations don’t change if leaders don’t. As the leader of the business, you yourself must be willing to change, if that is needed for a better future of your business.
One very important tasks of leadership is decision making. Indecision kills any organization. Unnecessary delay in taking decisions is dangerous. Timing is the essence of decision making. A business leader must have an ability to take timely decisions.
He must put in place processes in the company such that all important pending decisions are brought up in time for discussion and the decisions are taken on time. The leader must ensure that every decision is taken after careful analysis of available data. No decision should be taken based on sheer beliefs, opinions or prejudices.
Growing More Leaders, Delegating:
As a business grows, obviously the volume of work increases. Responsibilities increase. More people are required to take responsible positions in the company. As the leader of the company, we must also plan for growing more leaders in the company, so that the company’s leadership pipeline is always full of potential leaders to take up their roles.
The leader must develop the habit of delegating work to others. Delegation allows allocation of work to the right person, distribution of workload and timely completion of work. Also, it saves you time, develops your people, helps you identify and groom the right talent and motivates your team.
We must use delegation to grow more leaders in the company.
Establishing Regular Routines and Rhythm of the Company:
As a company, we must ensure that we do the regular things whenever they are required to be done (daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly etc.) All the operations of the company must be predictable and must follow a set routine.
For every department, identify the routine activities which need to be done daily, weekly, monthly etc. and establish a daily, weekly, monthly calendar as per the need. Develop such a calendar for yourself also and follow it strictly. Periodically, review and confirm with the department heads to ensure that the routine is being followed in their departments as decided.
A company must have its rhythm of working, which must be established consciously. The company should work in a predictable rhythm like clockwork. Everybody in the company must be tuned to this habit and they must do their work such that the rhythm is maintained.
It is the leader’s responsibility to establish routines and rhythm of the company.
Establishing Systems and Processes:
The objective of any business is to satisfy the customers’ needs. For successful retention of a customer for a long time, the business must satisfy the customer needs consistently by providing consistent quality of the product or service, every time. For this, all the operations in a business must work in perfect synchronization with each other. This becomes possible when each department behaves in a predictable manner.
Systems and processes are the essential building blocks of your company which make this possible.
The business leader must ensure that right systems and processes are established in the company and all the people and operations in the company follow the rules of these systems and processes.
A business exists for its customers. It exists because of its customers. You must accept this reality and you must drive this into the minds of all your employees. All the activities of the company must be focused on the customer and solving her problems.
Find out all the touch points which interact with your customer and ensure that they make her experience pleasant. Make it easier for the customer to work with your company. You must make conscious efforts to make your company a customer-centric organization.
Building Competencies, Learning New Things:
The world is changing very fast. To keep ourselves relevant, it is necessary to learn new things regularly. You should learn new things yourself. Keep yourself updated about the business, markets, technology and other relevant matters. Similarly, also arrange to train all your employees regularly into different skills and competencies.
Trained manpower contributes hugely in improving quality, productivity, efficiency and customer satisfaction. Develop a culture of learning in the organization by setting a right example of yourself. Commit resources of time and money to facilitate learning by your employees.
Creating a Positive, Progressive Culture:
The leader influences the creation of culture of his organization, knowingly or unknowingly. Whatever the leader does is being observed by the employees. They imitate their leader. Gradually, that becomes the culture of the company.
The leader must make conscious efforts to build a positive culture in his company. Answer the following questions to get a rough idea about your ideal culture of your company.
i. How punctual will the company’s employees be?
How will it treat deadlines?
Will it do the things on time?
ii. How will it treat its customers?
Will it be fair to them?
How will it make them feel?
Will it be friendly or hostile towards them?
iii. How will it treat its employees?
Will employees love to work here?
Will they feel respected?
Will they be treated fairly?
Will they get a clear idea of their progress in the company?
Will they be appreciated and rewarded for good work?
Will they have clear responsibilities?
Will they get necessary facilities and equipment?
iv. Will it be fair to competitors?
v. What experience the visitors to the company will get?
vi. Will the company plan and execute things or will it act haphazardly as and when situations arise?
vii. How new ideas of improvement and innovation will be treated in the company?
viii. How will it exercise its responsibilities towards the society?
ix. How will it exercise its responsibilities towards the environment?
Now, analyze your answers carefully and check whether that culture aligns with your mission, values and vision. If not, make corrections.
Responsibility # 4. To Achieve the Business Objectives:
It is the leader’s responsibility to ensure that all the business goals (e.g. sales, market share, profit etc.) which are set for the company are achieved. Our success as a business leader is determined by our ability to achieve the business objectives.
Be Courageous to Stand by Your Vision:
Entrepreneurs are lonely at times. Their convictions about their vision and about the success of their ventures are sometimes not understood by others. So, the entrepreneurs have to fight lonely battles. They must develop this courage to be different, if they trust their own convictions. If they persist in these convictions, finally they will succeed in realizing their vision. So, keep faith in your convictions. Be courageous.
Running a business requires solving of an enormous number of different types of problems. They could be either the customers’ problems, or the problems of our business. A business faces different types of problems on a daily basis. When our employees get stuck or confused about a problem, they come to us for a solution. We should look at the problems as challenges.
People who start a business know that the business environment is full of uncertainties and challenges are a daily part of life. As a leader, we must be ready to overcome challenges of our business. Problem solving is essential to business leadership. So, a business leader must not avoid problems. Having good problem solving skills can make a huge difference to your confidence and business success.
Problems are in fact opportunities to grow. Remember, the size of the business is proportional to the size of the problems it can solve. The only obstacles that stand between you and the business success you desire are problems, difficulties, hindrances, and barriers. Your ability to solve these problems is central to your business success. So, if you wish to grow your business, you must be always ready to solve them.
Keeping the organizational machinery well-oiled and active is one important responsibility of a business leader. To do this, the leader must be aware of what is happening in various functional areas of her business. The leader must not neglect any part of her business. She must design information architecture in such a way that all the important details of the business are captured regularly.
The next step after ensuring the availability of information is to review this information regularly. The leader must check various reports of her business and review the status of various tasks, projects and departments regularly.
Most of the business leaders who fail to achieve business objectives, have failed to follow-up in time. Remember, people don’t listen as actively as we may wish them to do. Sometimes, people misunderstand also. Even if they listen and understand properly, they may forget or get distracted into something else. Due to this, they may fail to complete something very important.
We may have experienced such situations with a lot of frustration. Such eventualities can be averted by regular follow-up. As a leader, it is our duty to follow-up with our people for all important tasks and projects which are going on. Ideally, we must develop a robust process where follow-up is automatic or it becomes unnecessary. Till then, we have to follow-up on our own.
Remember, things happen in organizations only when someone follow-up.
The focus of the leader is one of the most important requirements in ensuring business success. The business leader must spend his maximum time in developing the business and achieving business objectives. If, his attention shifts from the business to something else, the business will suffer badly due to neglect and hence, achievement of business objectives will be difficult.
Also, sometimes business owners get tempted towards some other businesses which have no connection with the current one. E.g. some people get attracted towards trading in stocks or commodities. They see some quick returns in that and start spending a lot of time in that while sitting in their office. Due to this, their attention on the main business reduces and the business suffers because of this neglect. Remember, every business requires commitment of time, energy and attention.
This commitment is required more till the business stabilizes. If the current business has not yet achieved a state where it can almost run on autopilot without our daily and full-time attention, we must not venture into something else. In developing a business, as in achieving anything else significant in life, time is the scarcest commodity. We must utilize our time wisely and devote our maximum working time in developing the current business.
Prioritization, Doing the Right Things:
A business has limited resources, especially of people, money and time. In order to ensure the best utilization of these resources, the business must spend them most effectively, such that they provide the best returns towards achieving its objectives. A big reason for failing in achieving business results is failure to prioritize.
Business leaders sometimes get carried away in attending to urgent items which are not important. A lot of their time and energy goes into trivial matters, which don’t need so much attention.
Sometimes, leaders spend a lot of time in unproductive meetings. Some meetings which should be finished in 15 minutes drag for hours, wasting precious time of everybody involved. The leader must remember that if he keeps his own team members busy in unimportant things, he is wasting his company’s collective time, at the cost of important things to be handled.
Another culprit for wasting company time is multi-tasking. If the leader is attending more than one people in the company simultaneously, he is keeping all of them waiting, wasting precious time.
The leader must prioritize and attend the matters in the order of their importance.
Do the following to prioritize effectively:
As a leader, you must remember that time is your scarcest resource. It is limited, perishable, irretrievable, and irreplaceable. The way you allocate your time can be the critical determinant of everything you achieve or fail to achieve. If you spend time on wrong things, you won’t have time for the right things.
Allocate your time in the order of importance of matters. Don’t sweat the small stuff.
Develop a habit of preparing a to-do list and mention priority on every task.
Start and end meetings in time. Don’t linger on unnecessary discussion and details.
Focus on one task at a time. Don’t start another till you finish one.