In my 30-day blog challenge in late December, I asked colleagues to suggest topics. Barbara Shuck, Wilson & Company, Inc., Omaha, provided 10 suggestions, including:
How to find time to be strategic when we're in the tactical trenches.
I think this is a great topic. Many of us get so bogged down in the day-to-day implementation tactics for our strategies and goals that we can't find the time to revisit/refine those strategies and tactics, much less develop new strategies and tactics, or get rid of the ones that no longer seem to make sense.
My answer is: you don't FIND the time—you MAKE the time!
That's where the expression, to "make time for something," comes from.
And you "make time" by scheduling it, putting it on your calendar, and selecting the option that shows you as "unavailable" during that time period. That way, nobody else can schedule a conflicting "appointment" for you.
Call that "appointment" something vague, but that a person looking at your schedule will think is important. If you need to, set that "appointment" for a location other than your office (but don't specify where) and schedule enough time that you have at least an hour to think in addition to your travel time. Then leave the building— for your favorite coffee shop, park, or anyplace else where you can think.
Or leave a message for someone on your staff that you'll be coming in late that morning.
In fact, everyone in marketing should be thinking strategically at one time or another, but in most cases, only the manager, director and chief marketing officer actually have "strategic thinking" in their job descriptions. If you carry one of those three titles, you probably have at least one marketing staff person who answers to you.
I know, you're thinking, "but what if an emergency comes up?" Frankly, that's what you have staff for. They can deal with an emergency at least until you get back to the office in an hour or two. And you give them instructions that they are not to call you unless there's a real emergency. Then you ignore phone calls during your "think time," even if your phone says it's the CEO calling.
There's an old saying that goes, "If you need to get something done, ask someone who's already busy!" There's a lot of truth to that. Often, overcoming inertia can take more time than actually getting the task done!
We all know the adage that says, "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him forever."
Your production (tactical) activities are the equivalent of giving a man a fish. Your strategic activities are the equivalent of teaching a man to fish. The former has benefits—perhaps great benefits—today, but the latter has great benefits lasting far into the future.
Finally, much of this strategic thinking will happen in collaboration with others, in meetings. And every manager, director and CMO I know thinks they spend too much time in meetings. But the next you look at your calendar and think "I waste too much time in meetings," just remember that, at your senior level, meetings are your job. Not production.
Strategic activities, not tactical ones.