Whit, a newly minted divisional leader, \u00a0walks into her office building with the enthusiasm that matches the balmy May morning.<\/p>\n
She is a talented marketer and a trusted colleague who doesn\u2019t shy away from demanding projects. Coupled with her ability to develop her team and her eagerness to learn, it\u2019s no wonder that her senior leadership has identified her as a high potential.<\/p>\n
Whit has just come back from a leadership program and she\u2019s excited to put her learning into immediate practice. She walks through her office door eager to take the day on. Whit opens her e-mail, proud of her first quick win of the day (vowing that she won\u2019t check e-mail between 7:30 at night and 8:00 in the morning). She recently read an article that checking e-mail less frequently\u00a0reduces stress<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0While only having adopted a nightly technology fast in the past two months, she has already seen significant productivity gains and she feels calmer.<\/p>\n Four of those messages are marked urgent. Whit starts to lose focus when she reminds herself of her promise to stay out of the weeds. Knowing \u00a0how easy it is to become hijacked by other peoples\u2019 urgent issues, Whit takes a few deep breaths to regain her focus and calmly reviews her inbox. In two minutes, that Whit needs to deal with personally are flagged. Upon closer inspection she evaluates who else on her team would be better suited to address the other e-mail queries.<\/p>\n Whit realizes that three emails are better handled by Keitha, a marketing manager within her group. She forwards these messages to Keitha and encourages her to respond to them in the order she feels is best.<\/p>\n A year ago, she went through the company\u2019s 360 feedback review, where her manager and three of her direct reports described that she was a little controlling as a leader. Whit has since learned that giving her team autonomy about how they do their work is far more important than doing the tasks the way she would have done them. She genuinely cares about her team and wants to empower them. In delegating, she is helping her team develop their own capacity, while freeing her up for work most suited to her strengths and capabilities that will move the business forward.<\/p>\n The team is \u00a0nearly all assembled as she takes her seat at the table as the clock strikes nine. The brand manager asks if they should hold off starting the meeting until the last two team members arrive. Whit smiles and informs the group that meetings from now on, start and end on time.<\/p>\n At first, the group exchanges puzzled glances across the table. Whit recognizes this body language, pauses, and states that the organization has a culture of being late to meetings and as a result, meetings start late and often end late, perpetuating the cycle of tardiness, which reduces productivity.<\/p>\n Everyone nods in recognition that late arrivals aren\u2019t just tolerated, but as Jim from Finance pipes up \u201cWe worship lateness\u201d<\/em>. After an open discussion, the attendees all agree that meetings will start and end on time.<\/p>\n Each team member shares something they are grateful for ranging from a new puppy who is finally house trained, to acknowledging a team member\u2019s extra help in analyzing market research data, to celebrating a second anniversary with the company.<\/p>\nThirty-two new e-mail alerts appear on Whit\u2019s laptop screen.<\/h4>\n
Delegation is a new leadership skill for Whit.<\/h4>\n
Whit dashes of to her 9:00 a.m. brainstorming meeting with her team.<\/h4>\n
The team starts each meeting with a minute or two of gratitude.<\/h4>\n