In the last issue, I reviewed the difficulty leaders face regarding the use of time. In this issue, I’ll review some of successful ways that leaders carve out time.

Earlier in my career, I taught time management to busy leaders. Some of the ideas that help leaders to carve out time are among the more commonly useful tools in the field of time management, including:

Become more efficient and organized. You’d be surprised at how many leaders have never taken the time to organize themselves as well as they organize their businesses. Little things matter, a lot.

Develop a schedule so that you do the same kinds of things at the same time of the day. Look at your mail and email at specific times (as opposed to whenever you’re online or at your desk), read and respond to mail and email immediately (as opposed to having the same document or email pass before your eyes several times), answer phone calls during predetermined times you set aside for phone calls (as opposed to answering every phone call as it comes in).

Develop a brutal and consistent analysis of your time that begins with the question, “Should I be doing this?” And, when you realize that you shouldn’t, identify and take the first step to assigning it to someone else. As I mentioned in the last issue, leaders are often the person to whom others in the organization turn for decisions that should be made by someone other than the leader. Consistently seek to place the responsibility for making decisions that belong elsewhere on those to whom they rightfully belong.

To help in your analysis of your time, develop a list of the three most important things you should be doing for your business. At the end of the day, review the list to ascertain how much time, if any, you’ve spent on them. I suspect that for many leaders struggling with the use of time, too little time is spent on the most critical issues of the business.

While you’re at it, ascertain where your time actually was spent and, after seeing the same few issues or people consuming large portions of your time repeatedly, investigate why. In many instances it’s because either the person can’t or won’t make a decision on his or her own or because there is a persistent and underlying problem or issue that requires attention.

With the first, it’s a matter of finding ways to ensure that the person who should be making the decisions (if it’s not you) in fact makes them. With the second, it’s often a matter of determining the underlying causes of the problem and addressing them directly instead of repeatedly fighting fires that continue to crop up.

These ideas are all time management approaches. Other factors affect how leaders use their time. Among them are:

The assumption that leaders should always be at the hub of the action. Some leaders assume, mistakenly, that if they’re at the center of all the frenetic action then they are leading. What it usually means is that they like the attention.

The belief that leadership is dealing with the urgent. What leaders should be doing is laying the foundation for future success and ensuring continued progress by dealing with the critically important – urgent and important are not the same.

The misperception that leaders should be doing everything that others want rather than recognizing their specific contribution and, given the challenges ahead, focusing on what they are uniquely capable of doing that will make a difference to the business.

Last night I attended a fund-raiser for a gubernatorial candidate who, at the end of his stump speech, was asked, “What differentiates you from your opponent?” His answer was illustrative of good leadership.

He began by clarifying what motivated him and what differences he was able to make in his previous positions. That’s exactly what every good leader I know does.

Good leaders know who they are – especially what motivates them – and are able to communicate that clearly and concisely to others.

Good leaders know what difference they have made and can make – these are not pie-in-the-sky campaign promises or wishful aspirations for the business. They know, based on past experience, exactly what they can do and they let others know what it is.

Can you do that?

Several months ago, I was asked by a colleague to talk with an organization about helping their management team to work more effectively together. After several drafts of project proposals, a meeting with the management team, and repeated efforts to move the project forward, I was told that they’re not going to make a decision until October, if then.

The issue, I realized, was not that we had misdiagnosed the problem or that I was the wrong guy to help out. The real issue was procrastination. Some leaders and some organizations procrastinate when it comes to addressing key business problems. Their procrastination is often the result of two factors:

The issue is not really worthy of management time and should not be dealt with by leaders – instead, it should be dropped from the management agenda or assigned to others in the organization.

The leaders are afraid – and instead of confronting their fears, they procrastinate. The best leaders I know have the courage to face up to and address their fears. The message courageous leaders communicate is that personal feelings and individual idiosyncrasies should not get in the way of organizational success.

Courage and leadership are linked. The lyrics from the old song, referring to love and marriage, had it right, “You can’t have one without the other.”