The most valuable and most scarce resource in any organisation is executive bandwidth.
Opportunity cost is a challenge for everyone.
But the challenge for executives – those in leadership roles – is amplified by the consequences of different choices.
- Should the executive leaders be tactical, operational or strategic?
- Which problems should have their focus?
That depends on the size and nature of the organisation.
In the commercial world it’s about working on the the business rather than in the business. But generally, it’s about building and managing the system. This helps the teams in the organisation prioritise and solve problems on their own.
Then, making sure that the organisation is fit for the likely future environments.
Leaders can do several things to enable the organisation and improve chances of success:
- Remove ambiguity in these areas: clear understanding of purpose, intent, roles and responsibilities at all levels is essential.
- Delegate decision making to the lowest level.
- Build trust within the organisation, and trust subordinates to get on with it.
- Ensure someone is building a map to future relevance, resilience and success.
It’s the same for any organisation.