It's Tough at the top - Part 2

In a previous blog I looked at the pressure business leaders can experience, and put themselves under. Here I look at further implications and some hints about how to handle those pressures.

One of the best definitions of a senior leader’s job spec I have seen is that they “interpret external realities for the company.” Like navigating a ship, steering the right course for a business means looking out at the horizon. However, it’s all too easy for the day to day pressures of running a business to draw them into the nuts and bolts, the daily demands, the bombardment of emails, making it hard to step back and reflect on the bigger picture.

Everyone will have experienced having a clear idea and to do list in their heads as they head to the office in the morning, only for it to still be there in the evening as they have been dragged into the daily detail others demand of them. It can become a challenge to prioritise what really matters – be that potential opportunities or looming threats.

Then there’s the important issue of being ‘fit for the job’. A leader who doesn’t take time to recharge, reflect and look after themselves isn’t just threatening their own health, they are also putting the stability of the business at risk though potential ill health or simply not being able to deliver 100% all the time. Also, if the boss is poor at work/life balance, stays late, gets in early and doesn't take holidays, this will be mirrored in the culture of the business, leading to burn-out and poor staff retention rates.

Leaders, like all of us, can have personal problems and pretending that nothing is going on and trying to mask the issue can be really damaging. For example, a leader who masks his true feelings will still give off unconscious signals that all is not well. The risk is that employees are likely to think that the business is in trouble and that their jobs are at risk when that’s not the case. It’s always best to be open about this sort of thing.

Last but not least, it is important that leaders give priority to their own self-development. Just because they have reached the top doesn’t mean that they know it all, and there’s a real irony in seeing leaders who talk about the importance of investing in their business and their staff but don’t do the same for themselves. that’s like a football team not investing in their no 1 player. why wouldn’t a leader want to stay match fit, keep up to date in the latest thinking and ideas? in a highly competitive business environment, leaders owe to themselves, their business and to everyone around them to stay ahead of the game.