As a leader I'm stuck after taking on too much day-to-day/hands-on responsibilities and maintenance (meetings, training staff, compiling reports + managing up) - I went to far in on that part of my job. What are ways I can get back the time and energy I need to think strategically and in order to innovate?

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A reflection for you, how many of those meetings/interactions you can skip/stop doing, the man repurpose that time to the strategic aspects you mentioned.

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Why are you in the dealtails and get sucked into the day2day? Are you enabling your team to make decisions and do what is right/needed for the customer?

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Many days I feel exactly the same way. My strategic work gets pushed out further and further into the day to the point that many days I only arrive to it when I have no "decision energy" left. Or worse, I simply snooze it for another day. On days that I can make some "strategy" decision, it feels very good though.

The only thing that has helped me so far is doing some analysis of which hands on thing has been taking the most time, and hiring for that role. After 2 hires in 2 different departments, and 1 change of role in the 3rd (effectively hiring internally), it feels that I may have cut the corner, but I think there is fair way to go.

All in all, I think I can relate with the problem more than I can offer a solution.

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Sounds like you’ve built this team up from nothing, and you’re still stuck in the operational mindset

This might sound harsh, but you may be in a situation where you’re not empowering your reports to make decisions without you, and that’s cool. Giving up your ‘baby’ to allow others to take the wheel is a really difficult thing to do, as there’s always fear that someone else won’t do as good a job as you.

I would recommend to start delegating some of these tasks to your team members. Give them the option of growth in the role by empowering them to do more without your input

What’s the worst that can happen?

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Do you have a strategic roadmap that creates buy-in for the strategies, execution processes and tactics, and required resources? And, do you have support from your leadership for budget and resources to delegate and outsource the execution so you can elevate into more strategic and higher value activities that better serve the organization? Too many of us get bogged down in &#34;firefighting&#34; on a daily basis. Delegate or outsource the lower-value activities so you can reposition your time and resources into higher-value activities.

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Shopify recognized the importance of freeing up valuable time for strategic thinking and innovation within its organization. To achieve this, they implemented a unique solution: a Meeting Cost Calculator. This innovative tool helped their leaders and teams become more mindful of their time spent in meetings and encouraged them to make these sessions more efficient.

By tracking the cost of meetings, Shopify made it clear to everyone involved that time was a valuable resource that needed to be managed wisely. This not only resulted in shorter, more focused meetings but also allowed employees to allocate more time to high-impact activities such as strategic planning and innovation.

To apply a similar approach in your situation, consider creating your own version of a Meeting Cost Calculator or a Time Allocation Tracker. By visualizing the time and resources dedicated to day-to-day tasks, you can identify opportunities to delegate responsibilities or streamline processes. This will ultimately help you regain the time and energy needed to think strategically and drive innovation within your organization.

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I would suggest you take a hard look at what you want to focus on and start delegating to your team. It would be a great opportunity for them to grow as well.

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Gartner has an excellent approach to this related to reducing sales manager burden. You need to look at it in 3 buckets 1. Can it be automated (too much tech out there not to automate A LOT of the stuff we are doing today) 2. Is the activity best executed at scale? Yes --> Off load to a center of excellence 3. Does the tacit knowledge required to perform the activity exist outside your role? Yes --> send work to that specialized role & if no --> this is the ONLY work that you keep.....My personal way is to define the top things that drive impact and that is where your energy should be spent.

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Are you managing up and down? Could you get your direct reports to manage up? Show them what you expect, daily, explain how you make decisions? Then they might only report when the work is done.
As others have said, do all the meetings, reports add value? Could they be dropped or given to others to do/attend? Mark

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This is a common pitfall that we can fall into, so you're not alone. One approach that can help is to block off time on your calendar (perhaps earlier in the day before things heat up, so to speak) to plan and strategize. Secondly, be on the lookout for others in your organization that you can delegate to - this can help them grow and free up your time.

Good reading material that may help, "Slow Is Smooth, Smooth Is Fast – What it Means and How to Leverage it ? (naveed.blog)".

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