Leader, are you taking enough time out to think?

Leaders do not get enough time to think, this is the result of a recent survey. . .

"… of nearly 1,200 managers and directors by the UK-based Chartered Management Institute has found more than eight out of 10 struggle to prioritise their work, with conflicting demands pulling them in all directions…. Two-thirds complain they have ‘little time to think’ and more than half struggle to find time to plan strategically…. the majority of managers claim they struggle to finish tasks, with seven out of 10 admitting they are not looking for new market opportunities or product gaps in the marketplace."

Taking time out to think is critical for effective leadership. Tom Peters has also discussed the importance of leaders taking time to think, he quotes from the book “Leadership the Hard Way” in which the author “insists that the leader-manager must free up no less than 50% of his-her time from routine tasks.”:

"Most managers spend a great deal of time thinking about what they plan to do, but relatively little time thinking about what they plan not to do … As a result, they become so caught up … in fighting the fires of the moment that they cannot really attend to the longterm threats and risks facing the organization. So the first soft skill of leadership the hard way is to cultivate the perspective of Marcus Aurelius: avoid busyness, free up your time, stay focused on what really matters. Let me put it bluntly: every leader should routinely keep a substantial portion of his or her time—I would say as much as 50 percent—unscheduled. … Only when you have substantial ’slop’ in your schedule—unscheduled time—will you have the space to reflect on what you are doing, learn from experience, and recover from your inevitable mistakes. Leaders without such free time end up tackling issues only when there is an immediate or visible problem. Managers’ typical response to my argument about free time is, ‘That’s all well and good, but there are things I have to do.’ Yet we waste so much time in unproductive activity—it takes an enormous effort on the part of the leader to keep free time for the truly important things."

Are you setting aside time to think? Is it enough?