Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and golajving. This is the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavaledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcasts, Episode five O four. There's something I tell my team all the time, and today I want to share it with you because it applies in every business, every industry, and every level of leadership. I tell them this. As an executive leader, I'm already thinking about next year, and as a mid level manager you should be thinking about next quarter, and entry level management should be focused on
the current core. Now here's the problem. All the small fires that we deal with every single day keep all three levels of leadership stuck in today. So let's break this down. Executive leaders are supposed to be visionaries. If you're an executive, your responsibility is not to fight over today's parking lot drama, who called off this morning or
why a supply order didn't come in. Your job is to think about where the organization is headed, What does the next twelve months look like, What partnerships, innovations and strategic moves need to happen. If you're not already looking ahead, your organization is going to get blindsided by change. Mid level managers, your world is tactical. You should be planning and adjusting for the next quarter. What projects are wrapping up, what goals need to be hit. Where are the gaps
in your team's performance. You're the bridge between the vision of the executives and the day to day of the entry level managers. If you're stuck in today's chaos, you're not building the runway for your team's next ninety days and entry level management, your focus is the here and now, this quarter, the schedule, the immediate goals, the team's performance this week and this month. You are the boots on
the ground. But here's the trap. Too many times you get pulled into the daily fires that should be handled by your team, not you. You end up reacting to today instead of managing the quarter. This is why leadership feels over one. We are all working in the wrong time zone. So how do we fix it? I'm going to give you three actionable steps. Number one, know your lane. If you're an executive, block time every week to only
think about the future. If you're a mid level manager, set aside time each month to review the upcoming quarter. Entry level managers, make sure that you're mapping out this quarter with clear, simple priorities. And Number two, stop letting fires dictate your leadership. Fires will always exist, but if you handle every single one, you're robbing your team of growth. Train them to handle what they can, empower them, hold them accountable. The best leaders don't rush to every alarm bell.
They teach their teams to use the extinguisher. And number three, communicate your time horizon. When your team knows that you're focused on next year, they'll bring you strategic ideas, not daily complaints. And when your managers know you're focused on the quarter, they'll learn to solve daily problems on their own. Clarity drives alignment. So here's the truth. If all three levels of leadership are stuck in today, dealing with the same fires over and over again, the organization will never
move forward. Someone has to be looking ahead, someone has to be steering the ship. So ask yourself this, what time zone are you working in and is it the right one for your role. In one of the new free PDFs I created and uploaded to my web site, pertains exactly to this episode. It's called the time horizons template and will help explain this concept to your team with more clarity. I hope you'll check it out at
Paulflovalito dot com. This has been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank you for listening.
For more Paul Fello Alito podcasts, visit Paulfellowalito dot com