The Boring Secret to Great Leadership: The Daily Plan

Moving from Reactive Firefighting to Intentional Impact

 

“He who every morning plans the transactions of the day, and follows that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life.” — Victor Hugo

 

I recently took my leaders through a workshop on the concept of the daily plan.

In my experience, being a leader is harder because it is “looser” than a front-line role. It’s often fuzzy around the edges. We hear mantras like:

• “Lead through our culture and values.”
• “Make sure you nail your numbers.”
• “Grow the business by 7%.”

But in the day-to-day, there is always a fire to put out or a project deadline looming. This work is important, but if you aren’t careful, it will consume your entire week. You’ll end up owning a lot of “urgent” items that have nothing to do with your actual plan.

The Categories of the Work

I encourage every leader to have a daily plan. Most leadership roles break down into four clear buckets:

• Employees: Removing barriers and coaching your people.
• Customers: Internal or external, depending on your role.
• Strategy: Hitting deliverable goals like sales or production.
• Projects: Specific, time-bound initiatives.

Yet, how many of us roll into a Monday and just let the day “happen” to us? The more experienced we get, the more we rely on pattern recognition to survive the meetings. We survive, but are we leading?

Constructing the Plan

This is more than a to-do list. I recommend doing this at the end of the day, looking back at what you did (and didn’t) accomplish.

I look to ensure I have three types of time blocked:

1. Strategic Time: Proactive project work and collaborating with others.
2. Managerial Time: Huddles, one-to-ones, teaching, and feedback.
3. Creative Time: Brainstorming, reading industry news, or writing. This is where Outside Insights begins.

The Three Pillars of Your Day

1. Employees: Your job is to remove barriers so your team can be productive

a. Can you teach someone today?

b. Can you catch someone living the culture?

c. On the flip side, are you willing to “eat the bullfrog” and have that difficult conversation you’ve been avoiding?

2. Customers: When we get busy, communication is the first thing to go. A simple plan fixes this. Ask yourself: Who else needs to know what I am doing so they can do their job better? One proactive update can eliminate five “checking-in” emails later.

3. Strategy and Projects: Blocking the time is half the battle. Doing the work is actually the easy part. The challenge is interpersonal. Since we often work with people who don’t report to us, we have to use our planning time to stay aligned and work through shared challenges.

Review and Repeat

The key? Do this every single day.

 

Write down how you did against your plan. If you don’t know where to start, check out Slow Productivity by Cal Newport or The Five Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom. Both will change how you view your time.

 

Just get started. Pick the three most important parts of your job and start a journal. Success isn’t always flashy; it comes from being “boring” and pressing play every day.

 

Until next time, friends,

Chris

P.S. I have used the Panda Planner for 10 years and highly recommend it.

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If you enjoyed this article, I recommend reading these past Outside Insights posts:

The Nth Degree of Presence

What’s In That Teapot

Running To The Nth Degree

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