Editor’s note: Entrepreneur and investor Donald Thompson is a regular contributor to WRAL TechWire. His columns appear on Wednesdays.

RALEIGH – As a leader, from the moment you wake up, you already feel like you’re running behind. Your list of things to do never gets shorter, and you’re always striving to balance business with family and life outside of work. You want to be as efficient as possible, but there’s a low hum of stress associated with that feeling that can make you less productive during the work day. 

Running a business can easily overwhelm even the most effective leader if you don’t know how to be ruthlessly efficient with your time. Trust me; I know from personal experience. 

There’s a reason we say that time is spent, saved and wasted. In fact, as a CEO, founder, father, and husband, time is the only currency I have. So how do I spend it, who do I spend it with, and what do I spend it working on? Those three questions drive my calendar and my attitude toward leadership. 

  • Surround yourself with productive people. 

If you spend time with unproductive people, you’ll be unproductive too. My drive for relentless productivity determines who I hire, who I spend my time with, and who I’m willing to listen to. 

I like people who are organized, prepared, and can get quickly to the point. That way, I know if I invest my time in them, they’re going to take that energy and knowledge and make something out of it to move us both forward. Surround yourself with people who have big ideas and the confidence needed to really push the envelope. 

If there are people in your organization that need you to answer every question before moving forward, those people are going to bleed your energy dry. Instead, look for partners, colleagues, and employees who know how to balance time-efficiency with thoughtful attention to detail. 

  • Make every meeting worth your time.

Meetings are probably the single biggest time-suck in every leaders’ day. In fact, recent research shows that business leaders spend up to 50% of every work week stuck in meetings, and half those meetings are a waste of time. Imagine how much work you’d get done if you could buy back those valuable minutes and hours. That’s one whole day each week of wasted productivity! 

To trim the fat off every meeting, insist on preparation. Request a bulleted agenda and talking points from your team. If you’ll be watching a presentation, ask to see it ahead of time so you can walk into the meeting focused on solutions, not just waiting for someone to make a point. Preparing in advance also means you’ll take less time to process information. 

Also, know when it’s time to leave. It may feel like you’re being polite by staying in a meeting that’s 5, 15 or 30 minutes too long, but consider who you’re actually being unkind to. Is it your family? Your next appointment? Your health and wellbeing? If you’re eating junk food at your desk for lunch because you wasted an hour in an unnecessary meeting, you’re sacrificing your wellness for no good reason. 

  • Hire people who are smarter than you. 

Hire people quickly who are good at things you’re not and let them run the show. I’ll give you just one quick example. I’m proficient at finance, but I’m not great at it and honestly I don’t like it very much. So I hired a CFO who is excellent at her job and who I trust completely. Because of her efficiency and expertise, I run a multi-million dollar marketing business and spend less than an hour every week talking about finance and operations. 

If you hire people who can hit the ground running, you get to focus on the things you’re good at and stop wasting time with the things you’re not. Your role as a leader is to oversee success but never micromanage. 

Still, I see lots of leaders fail in this arena because they don’t have enough confidence and humility to hire people who are better equipped for the job. Do yourself a favor and lean on people who will actually help you clear your plate. 

  • Get comfortable with measured risk. 

If you need 90-100% of all the background before you can make a good decision, you’ll never be able to scale for success. Leaders have to make good decisions with 70-80% information. Measure the risk, and don’t be embarrassed if you get it wrong. When you make a mistake, learn from it, fix it, change it, and move on. 

In business, there is rarely ever one right answer. There are only options that need to be tested. If you’re choosing between three logos, for instance, don’t waste your time in a 2-hour meeting debating which one is better than the others. Skip the conversation and test them in the market. Gather feedback, and use the data to make a better decision. 

  • Pick up the phone. 

It’s really incredible how much you can accomplish in a 15-minute phone call. With so much digital technology in-hand, text and email have become our go-to forms of business communication but they are rarely ever the most efficient way to talk. 

I really dislike talking finance by email where things can start to feel overly formal and sometimes even adversarial. If I can’t hear your tone, I can’t get a good understanding of your reasoning and perspective. If we grab 15 minutes on the phone, we can almost always find a fair deal for both parties in much less time. 

A 15-minute phone call is also my favorite tool for quick collaboration. If I’m going to do something new, I gather opinions ahead of time and talk to people who are experts in the field before I have to make a decision. Then, I can be smart in the moment because I did my homework. 

I’d love to hear what strategies you’re using to be more efficient. Share your perspective by commenting below or reach out to me on LinkedIn

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donald is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, author, podcaster, public speaker and mentor for Google’s Entrepreneurs Exchange. He currently divides the bulk of his time as CEO of Walk West, a digital marketing agency, and co-founder of The Diversity Movement, a technology-enabled DEI consulting firm which invites you to learn about privilege through our Virtual Privilege Walk on August 27th. Donald has also explored time management on this recent episode of the Donald Thompson podcast

To learn more, visit donaldthompson.com.

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