Canopy What's the best use of a leader's time?

It always feels like we are running short of it as leaders. There are so many different things that we can be doing and communicating. And so I think a very pressing question every single day for us as leaders is what is the best use of my time?

And today I'm going to answer that in another Know Your Team manager tip. I'm Claire Lew, the CEO of Know Your Team and excited to have you back here. We release these tips every so often just to make sure that you have everything you need as a manager to really level up, and along with that, if you're not already subscribed to our manager tips, be sure to do so. And you may wanna check out our Know Your Team manager training platform as well that goes even deeper and supports you really on the most fundamental level to really help you upskill yourself as a leader. So be sure to check that out as well.

Now, on the subject of time though, I wanna really take a look at this because there is no real shortage of things that we can be spending our time on as leaders, but there are, based off the research that we've really looked at and collected over the past decade here at Know Your Team really three things more than anything that you can be focusing on as a leader to have the most outsized impact. And first and foremost, that begins with recruiting and hiring. It is a understated concept, I think for us as leaders to really recognize that it is our responsibility, regardless of if we have a hiring team, regardless of if we've got folks who are helping us. But it's up to us as leaders to really have a say and really set the direction for the kinds of folks who we want to be joining the team in the organization.

So whether or not you are even in active hiring mode, the idea that you as a leader should be spending time really cultivating clearly who should be joining the company and in what way, and and what is that picture of excellence and what are the skills required is something you should be giving thought and a voice to. Second, the best use of a leader's time is really around thinking through long-term culture and vision. This is because no one else in the company unfortunately is really doing it except us as leaders. And whether you're a frontline manager or a CEO, it's up to us to be really intentional about what is the kind of culture, how exactly value wise and really demonstrable behavior wise are we really looking to create the culture that we want in the organization?

And then lastly, the third best use of a leader's time is around direction. Our team is wondering where're we headed? What's this all really add up to? And it really comes down to us as leaders communicating that sense of a picture of a better place, that sense of direction, that sense of progress in order for the rest of our team to be able to follow along. So while you're stuck in the day-to-day, the meetings, the to-do lists, the putting out of fires, keep in mind that it's really these three things, recruiting and hiring, really thinking about long-term culture and vision and communicating direction over and over that above all are going to be the most effective uses of your time.

So with that, I'm excited to have you now look back on your own day and start to think about how you can redistribute some of your own time to focus more on those three areas. What can you cut? What can you move around? And if you're looking for even greater best practices, learnings, events, more deeper, real true knowledge around how to become better as a leader, please join us here at Know Your Team with our Know Your Team manager training platform where we give you everything you need to become the leader that you've always wanted to be.

So with that, hope that this tip was helpful and look forward to seeing you next time.