As we all know, time is our No. 1 commodity. And as most business professionals will tell you, “I am really busy. I have no time.” As an executive coach working in the extremely fast-paced world of tech, I see a lot of leaders not taking time for professional development or training their managers and executives to become better leaders.

This comes as a huge financial and emotional cost to workers and companies.

Research shows that billions of dollars are being lost at companies for one major reason: Time.

• Companies are not investing in professional development for their new and experienced leaders.
• Leaders are not spending the time to listen to their teams.
• Leaders are not allowing themselves the time to think and lead better.

TIME TO LEARN AND IMPLEMENT

Recently I learned of a top new company whose head count went from 100 people to 1,200 in a period of one year. When speaking with the chief people officer, I asked him, how is professional learning and development handled?  The response was shocking.

“We really do not have time for that right now as we are working at warp speed and planning to increase our head count by about 700 by the end of the year.”

How can this be?  How are employees feeling?  What is retention like? (Probably too early to tell.) How are teams developing with novice leaders or with leaders who may not have had any training? And most importantly, how are the employees feeling?

I began to discuss with this man some ideas and programs I had implemented in the past that might be useful and of value for this company. The response: “I believe maybe we could give leaders a two-hour training, but it will not be consistent.”

More often than not, employees are not being trained for leading teams, people and operations. I recently worked with an amazing VP from the tech industry. She was having difficulties working with a stakeholder from a different group. When we coached around this topic, it became evident that this leader—who has been in her role for eight years—did not have the basic feedback and strategic planning tools to be an effective leader. When we continued our dialogue, she said “I love what you are telling me, however, nowhere in my professional development was I ever given the tools you are discussing or the time and training to learn all this.”

Being a leader, for many, is not natural or something we are taught. How do we engage and manage people more effectively? How do we improve flow, productivity and revenue? How do we attract and retain employees better? The answer? Time!

As a leader, it is essential to learn new skills such as how to be a better listener, how to coach individuals and teams, how to deliver feedback (negative AND positive), how to lead more effective one-on-ones / bigger meetings and how to discuss professional development. An insurance company I worked for has, for three years in a row, deployed an employee engagement survey. The No.1 response of what employees wanted from this company is “professional development.” To date, this company has not dedicated any time or resources and has a very high attrition rate.

Of course, there are many training programs, videos and experts in these fields, and while these are all amazing resources, they are not useful if employees do not have the time to learn, implement and practice. A common refrain I hear is “Yeah, I watched some great videos on YouTube and LinkedIn and I got some ideas.”

Ideas are lovely. Skills take time to learn, practice and implement.

Developing new skills is like going to the gym. If you hit the barbells once and expect to be a well-toned god or goddess, that will not likely happen. The same holds true for developing new skills. It takes time to get muscle memory; reading about delivering hard feedback is one thing. Learning how to do it well takes time to learn and practice.

Working with a CFO recently, I discovered that there was a huge disconnect between her and her team. It had become so bad that her staff did not want to have one-on-one meetings with her and canceled appointments. This leader clearly struggled with internal communication, motivation, feedback and appreciation. After meeting with her several times, I realized that she needed to learn and develop management/leadership skills. Her company, like so many, had not set her up for success. The result? An underperforming team with very high turnover. Imagine the emotional and financial cost to employees and the company.

In the time that I have been working with the CFO and introducing and practicing new leadership skills, I am seeing improvement. The CFO now provides more positive feedback, has now started to have more effective one-on-one meetings, and is beginning to discuss professional development with her employees.

The result? Her team is taking notice. Whereas once they would run to HR to talk to representatives about this CFO, now they are beginning to have more honest and direct dialogue with her, resulting in positive responses from her team and her CEO.

Think about your current role. Most likely, you did not just appear one day in your position and know everything. If you are a lawyer, software engineer or marketing professional, you had to take years of study to learn your vocation. We need to make time to give people the tools they need to be amazing leaders. It takes time to learn, practice and implement.

TIME FOR PEOPLE

More now than ever before, employees want and need to be heard. It used to be that an employee would stay at a company for years; today, that is not the case. Employees have shown that if they are not satisfied in a role, they will move on quickly to a better position elsewhere.

According to The Work Institute, “An estimated 42 million, or one in four employees, left their job in 2018, and that nearly 77 percent, or three-fourths, of that turnover could have been prevented by employers. Employers will pay $600 billion in turnover costs and can expect that number to increase to $680 billion by 2020.”

A 2018 LinkedIn article states the highest turnover churn affects the tech, retail, media and professional services industries. The reasons stated:  45% Career/Professional Development; 41% Leadership; 36% Environment/Culture; 36% wanted more challenging work; and 34% compensation. It might surprise you that two of the biggest global tech companies retain employees, on average, for a little over one year.

A senior marketing VP at a major bank who I worked with a while ago was referred to coaching to improve her professional brand and relationships with her team and with stakeholders from other divisions. While we were working together, she said, “It is hard for me to make changes or get feedback when my boss will only meet with me every other week because she is so busy. She cancels meetings at the last minute, and when we do meet, I usually will only get a half hour.” As you can imagine, this talented professional moved on to a different company three months later.

In today’s busy workplace, employees are not being given the time to be heard. Managers and leaders must carve out time to not only to discuss current work, but most importantly, to really listen to team members, get to know them personally and see how they operate. What makes them happy? Where do they shine professionally?

Scheduling weekly in-person (not email or text) meetings is a necessity in keeping employees happy. “How are YOU doing this week?” “What have been some of your challenges this week?” “What might be areas that would make you happier in your role?” “What are some areas you would like to learn/improve when it comes to you and your career?” “Might there be areas I might be able to help support you better in your role?” Get curious with your staff. Create calendared action plans when needed.  Also, find out about who they are as a person.

A one-to-one meeting with an employee does not always mean a check-in. Those can often be done through email, text or your project management programs. Have your team member provide you with an agenda to discuss and help them with ideas to talk about as well.

Meetings with team members offer a great time to give feedback. Of course, there are two types of feedback: constructive and positive. I often find that consistent positive feedback and appreciation are missing in leadership. Appreciation does not have to be big. It can be a “thank you for all your help in Tuesday’s meeting,” or a quick thank-you Slack  about something specific. Appreciation can be a sticky note on someone’s desk with a thank you. When taking the time to talk to people, make it simple, authentic and specific.

In today’s world, leaders need to be proactive in communicating with team members, no matter what title they hold. Leaders need to make time to listen, understand, develop and appreciate every employee. Neglecting to communicate costs companies billions of dollars annually and contributes to mental stress for leaders and their teams when someone leaves.

TIME TO WORK/STRATEGIZE/BIG PICTURE

“I am so busy. I don’t have time to…” is a common statement that every manager makes. Leaders are managing burdensome workloads and many people. It makes no difference whether a company is in start-up mode or has been around for years; this story continues to be repeated like a broken record. Imagine a mouse in a maze. This is the metaphor I often note in leadership, as people are so busy putting out fires and bumping into walls in the maze that they cannot see the bigger picture.

Not only does leadership mean managing people and projects, but it also means taking the time to see the bigger picture. Instead of being the mouse in the maze, what does it look like to be the eagle from above to get a bird’s-eye view?

Several months ago, I was working with an e-commerce company that was having growth pains. The leader of the company was spending hours and hours sourcing and recruiting on LinkedIn. “We have heard from our reps at LinkedIn that they have never seen someone so active recruiting on the platform as Jake (the CEO).”

The managers said, “If Jake is not working, he is recruiting. He typically is working 12-15-hour days.” This team has recently lost some staff and now, with an exploding client base, realize they cannot handle the volume of work.

I also discovered, when discussing this matter with other people at this company, that several top managers are in crisis mode, spending hours and days trying to source and recruit.

One thing they have not been doing, however, is taking time to look at the bigger picture. With my coaching, I worked with them to see that this team now needs to bring in a temporary external recruiter and begin the process of hiring a director of people ops. A CEO and three VPs at this level—with millions of dollars of business—should not be having to source, recruit and interview. Also, had they been able to be an “eagle from above,” they might have been able to assess their needs much earlier. If only they had taken some time to plan and strategize better.

This scenario is but one small example. Another major company has recently begun the move from working with clients in person to working with global clients online. Unfortunately, this company decided to make this change without having strategized. The cost? Online clients are dissatisfied, and because of this substantial business increase, staff have become overwhelmed and are leaving the company. Again, this is a familiar scenario with a huge cost.

According to the Harvard Business Review “almost every leader wants to make more time for strategic thinking. In one survey of 10,000 senior leaders, 97% of them said that being strategic was the leadership behavior most important to their organization’s success.”

And yet in another study, a full 96% of the leaders surveyed said they lacked the time for strategic thinking.”

When working with my clients at any level of leadership, I ask, “When do you make time to look at the bigger picture and strategize?” Again, I often hear, “I am so busy…” The cost of not taking time to strategize is astronomical both mentally and monetarily.

Time-blocking a period of two or three non-negotiable hours a week (at a minimum) is essential to be a better leader. Taking time for lunch and getting away from your laptop and present work environment is essential to be a better leader.

Recently I worked with a client who manages a very large team and has five direct director-level reports. We did an experiment. I had her and her managers time-block two non-negotiable hours each week. They had the chance to do it at the office location or do a mini-offsite at a coffee shop or work from home. It was also required that each person take a lunch break away from their computers.

We did the experiment for two weeks only. Here were the responses from the experiment.

• “With just two hours a week, I had some breathing space to a) get some of my own work accomplished and b) be able to see what was coming down the road and plan.”
• “Getting away at lunch allowed me to take a moment, think, breathe and come back to my afternoon to work better. The craziness of mornings and putting out fires didn’t allow me to see clearly. Just taking a walk at lunch and getting out of the office allowed me to think and prioritize the rest of my afternoon better.”
• “With all the change that is happening at our company, I am overworked and understaffed. We are always in crisis mode, it seems. Just taking a few hours a week helped me to plan better and create a priority list for me and my team to help us all deal better with the situation.”

One of the best uses of time is stepping back to think and plan, and it might mean closing the office door or working remotely.

It takes a great deal of work to be a good and effective leader. It takes time to learn and practice leadership skills one might need to develop and strengthen. It takes time to connect with people, and it takes time to step back, look and strategize.

It’s clear that many of us “don’t have time.” The question is, “How will you use your time more wisely?” for you, your team and your company.