Four ways to overcome your leadership hurdles

Whether you’re new to leadership or an experienced hand, there will be obstacles. From additional management duties to personal life stressors you just can’t ignore, these challenges and distractions will impact your ability to progress or take care of the most important tasks at hand.

Rather than ignoring issues or trying to persevere under stress, you should take a step back to reevaluate your situation so you can easily clear every work hurdle. Here are four ways you can do just that. 

Clarify your strategy

It can be incredibly easy for new managers to step into a role where pre-existing procedures mean everything is done in a certain way – even if that’s not efficient. Therefore, you need an efficient strategy that’s going to suit your style to avoid being on the back foot from day one. Consider asking yourself the following questions to help piece together a new strategy:

• Which tasks are taking up the most time? Are they your responsibility or could they be handled by another person/department to streamline roles and responsibilities?
• How much time are you spending on the most impactful tasks? Are you truly prioritising tasks with clear outcomes?
• Is your workload burdened by reporting and administration? When hours are spent on daily or weekly reporting, look into ways to consolidate or cull time-consuming administrative tasks.
• What hurdles can you overcome on your own? If tasks are reliant on outside help – and you’re not receiving it – look at new solutions and strategies to complete them.

Embrace delegation

New or old leaders often find it difficult to delegate tasks. There’s a really strong sense of responsibility in both cases; new managers don’t want to concede yet while experienced managers may feel a rusted-on need to take care of everything independently. 

But through delegation, you give yourself more time to focus. It could be handing a key part of a project to an experienced team member, asking someone to complete a piece of research or having a colleague step into a meeting on your behalf. Even if it’s something to give yourself an extra hour in the day, handballing a task to a suitable colleague or team member could achieve great results. 

Take it one hurdle at a time

Leaders and managers love multitasking. Okay, love might be too strong a word; multitasking is more a necessity. But it’s not always the best approach. There are times when you have to sit back and focus on one task at a time to ensure it’s completed. Some of the best ways to do this are:

• Write out a clear to-do list that identifies all your top priorities for the day/week. A visible list means you can clearly tick items off while hopefully limiting the number of new tasks added on.
• Set aside time for each major task without distractions. That means saying no to meetings or blocking out your calendar to avoid interruptions at certain times. 
• Start early before too many distractions pop up. If you can knock off some tasks before your morning meetings, that’s a big win! Just don’t sacrifice your own time if you can.
• Focus on the tasks that are going to tick off multiple boxes or have the biggest impact. As per the 80/20 rule, 20% of your duties will result in 80% of positive outcomes. Identifying and focusing on the minority will often benefit you the most! 

Look after your well-being

Leadership can be stressful, especially when it’s combined with an important managerial role. There’s a lot on your plate and that’s not even including whatever might be occurring personally. But it’s essential to look after your own well-being above all else.

Self-care, including good quality sleep, exercise and a healthy diet is essential. But so too is creating the right balance between work and home. Ensure you have time to focus on yourself, your family and your hobbies without being distracted by work. This could be as simple as switching off email notifications on your phone. 

Similarly, don’t be afraid to take a mental health or well-being day if you are feeling fatigued and have noticed decreased productivity. Think of it as though you’re an athlete; you need training and recovery to be at your best, so you shouldn’t be aiming for back-to-back races without time to recoup.