“If you think you're leading, but no one is following, then you are only taking a walk.” - John Maxwell.

Leadership inherently includes people. If you want to cultivate leaders, you need to make time for people.

Know yourself

Some people might need a post titled "make time for strategy" As an INTJ, that's not me. For me, there's a draw to pull away and design, strategize, solve problems. Early in my leadership journey, I would go away, craft a plan, and bring it back to the team. This usually had mixed results.

Over time I learned to facilitate co-creation times with my team where we would solve together. This was a breakthrough for me and became my core leadership style. Later I discovered IDEOs design thinking concepts and Google's Design Sprint format, which gave me even more tools in this toolbox.  But it's not about the tools. These tools help me engage the people to draw out their unique perspectives and insight and platform their voices as we solve together.

It's critical to find ways to engage and regularly connect with people in a way that recognizes and maintains their humanity.

It's important to know what your tendencies and preference are. If you're like me, some of these habits may help bring some balance.

Put it in the schedule

A pitfall I fell into early in leadership was seeing people as interrupting the work I was trying to get done. This mainly was a result of unmet expectations. I had an expectation about how I would spend a specific time, like Tuesday afternoon, and then someone would call or come by at that time with a question or wanting to work on something else.

I have other spaces of time that I've pre-allocated for meeting with people

Smartphones didn't help this. Now I was always accessible to my team and others. I needed to add some structure. I began by theming my days and block scheduling my time. I still do this by having chunks of time for focused work where I turn off all notifications and my calendar is not free. And then I have other spaces of time that I've pre-allocated for meeting with people. This way, when someone wants to meet, I offer my preset times, and it doesn't feel like I'm giving anything up because the decision was already made in the past.

Start doing 1on1s

Another essential habit that I began was having weekly 1on1s with people on my team. If you haven't heard of 1on1s before, check out how I do it or look through the many resources on manager tools. Here's a quick overview

1. Always weekly. Schedule your 1on1s each week, and don't cancel it.
2. 30 min. The meeting doesn't need to be long. 30 minutes will help it stay focused.
3. They set the agenda. This one surprises people. The direct report, not the leader, determines what is discussed.
4. Running notes. I keep a shared google doc for my reports to collect questions or topics, and I can preview it before our meeting.

Some questions need to be asked right now, but many fall in the category, "I'll ask when I see them..." Having a weekly 1on1 ensures that they'll see you this week. This regular rhythm allows people to write down questions or ideas they have rather than shooting them to you in an email or slack message.

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People outside your team

There are people beyond your team with whom you connect and collaborate. It's important to recognize this network and prioritize connecting with people. This could be scheduling a 30 min check-in each month or quarter. It could mean having lunch or sending a quick "how's it going?" text.

It can be easy to see this network as transactional. When this happens, I don't see Mike; I see the budget person. This is not how you want to cultivate your leadership. It's critical to find ways to engage and regularly connect with people in a way that recognizes and maintains their humanity.

Often projects are more straightforward than people.

Again, depending on your personality, this may not be as much of an issue. But if it is, habits like this can help you protect against blind spots developing in your leadership and life.

Not just the work people

Often projects are more straightforward than people. When relationships are complicated, there is the temptation to stay longer at work or find another way to keep busy. I've struggled with this but what's helped me is refocusing on my long-term priorities.

When I think about what will matter at the end of my life, it's people. This may seem strange, but imagining what you want to be said about you at your funeral quickly distills what's important to you.

A few years ago, I set a couple of habits to help me live by my priorities.

1. Say yes when my kids ask me to do something with them. If I don't make a habit of saying yes when they're young, they'll stop asking.
2. Create regular rhythms with friends. I have a couple of groups of friends with whom I have weekly or monthly connections. It's not the only time we connect, but it ensures that we're still prioritizing our friendships even in the busy seasons.

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