The Physics of Leadership

In the past month I made a significant change in where I will devote my time and energy.  The particular decision represented the end of several years of effort - and emotional investment.  It was not a decision taken lightly.  Like many challenging decisions it was something that should have happened earlier. 

Being very much a wanna be science geek - as attested to by my love of astronomy, Star Trek and the Big Bang Theory - I started to see a relation between leadership and the physics around work, time and power.  More particularly, the relationship between these factors started to bring my own personal time management challenges into perspective.  What's also been apparent over the past several months is that many of my contacts and clients have been similarly challenged by issues that present as issues of time management.

Now I'm not going to profess to being an expert in the field of physics.  I successfully avoided the subject through high school and university!  I have just enough awareness of the concepts to be dangerous and think I can draw some comparisons to leadership and work challenges.  One formulation in physics that struck me was the relationship between Power, Work and Time.

My translation of the concept of Power as it relates to leadership and business is that Power represents our ability to achieve and to get things done.  Power is certainly a time-based concept and quantity as all of us know too well.  The level of Power that we are able to achieve directly relates to two key factors - the amount of Work effort we bring to bear on any one task and the amount of Time it takes to complete a task and/or the amount of Time we are prepared to give to a task.  Simple enough on the face of it.  I hope.

As I worked through my decision it's become abundantly clear that Work and Time exist in limited quantities.  At a certain point there is no more Work to be applied or Time to be had in relation to the quality of Power (or quality of accomplishment) that we expect or can achieve.  Most of us in leadership roles are not content to merely check off the items on our list of to do's.  We want high quality results in everything we do.

Often we undertake pieces of work, investment in initiatives, and even in other people and relationships for all the right reasons.  We believe we see some current or future value in this investment of our time and energy.  Sometimes we have really done our homework while other times we become enamored with the idea of what has been presented to us or is before us. 

However, in service of Power (or quality of that Power), we need to make appropriate commitments of Work and Time.  Nothing good comes for free.

Now if you google "time management" you'll get a host of tips for getting more Work done in a given Time period in service of results/Power.  This list often includes - delegation, forensic audit of your last week's or last month's calendar, block off time with yourself, schedule time for inevitable interruptions, take the first 30 minutes of your day to plan, and turn off your technology.  If you are like me - and most of my clients - you've done most of these and are still feeling challenged.

A breakthrough for me came when I started to think "How would I coach one of my clients through this type of scenario?"   So I started to ask myself some hard questions.  What was I prepared to continue to do to make this particular task successful?  How long was I prepared to continue to make the investment of Time and Work into the venture?  How did that investment of Time and Work relate to other things that were giving me more Power?

The proverbial light bulb came on when I recognized that rather than trying to find more Time, or give more Work, I needed to really think in terms of efficiency in service of my personal Power (or ultimate goals).  Once that equation came into sharper focus and I really owned my personal priorities the decision became clear (although not necessarily easier).  The hardest decision I had to come to terms with were ones of key priorities and personal choice.  Ultimately the same struggle that any one of my clients deal with - being clear on priorities and making hard choices.  And that's what leadership is often all about whether it be leadership of self or a business.

One additional side note.  The achievement of Power (accomplishment) is, for better or worse, just a simple matter of your own Work and Time.  Rather we have to deal with the concept of Friction and a potential to lose impact from your own Work.  There are other forces in the environment that can confound your efforts.  I needed to take that into account as well when considering my decision.  In my particular circumstance it was clear that there were too many other points of Friction at play that were not allowing me to make the best use of my personal Work and Time to achieve my full Power.

Long story short - Time and Work are bounded for all of us.  We have to be wise enough and strong enough to make the right choices in service of our Power.

Leadership is about setting priorities and having the courage to act upon those priorities.  Nobody ever said it was going to be easy but that is leadership.
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Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE(R), CEC, PCC
Executive Coach/Senior Consultant
hadubiak@wmc.ca

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.