I learned a powerful lesson at the beginning of my corporate brand management career.
I was working in the Eastern European division of Procter & Gamble, and my General Manager at the time was a terrific leader named Ian Troop.
During one particular year's budget season, Ian taught me something especially poignant that opened my eyes to how the best leaders spend their time.
During that particular year, I was responsible for managing four brands.
"Budget season" always meant extra work, accomplishing regular duties during the day, and staying late to get the numbers and plans right for the coming year.
This preparation took place over several weeks, followed by the penultimate "budget meeting" when our team would walk into a large conference room filled with top managers, present our proposed growth strategies and requested budgets, and defend our decisions and action plans.
The success or failure of a budget meeting would affect our team's financial and operational activities for the coming 12 months.
The particular year in question, my team and I had thoroughly done our homework.
We were convinced we had pulled together plans that would help us grow our brand portfolio by 15 percent, but we needed millions of budget dollars in order to accomplish it.
So, for more than an hour, we presented our strategies, defended our plans, and fielded several dozen questions from the senior management team, including Ian.
Then, we each held our breath as we waited to hear the outcome.
Before speaking, Ian paused, then said, "Great job.
It's a thorough plan, well thought out.
Based on what you've shared here today, I feel confident you will indeed build your brand portfolio by 15 percent.
" Everyone exhaled and smiled.
What a relief! The faces of all of my direct reports were beaming.
Our hard work had paid off.
But, as everyone filed out of the room, Ian called out to me, "Please stay behind, Brenda.
" Thinking that he wanted to give me some personal congratulations, I quickly went back to the table and took a seat.
But, my expectations were soon pummeled.
"First of all, let me say that you and the team did a great job," he began.
"It really is a strong brand-growth plan, and I'm convinced that, properly executed, the strategies you've proposed will grow your businesses by 15 percent.
" (So far, so good.
) Then, Ian continued, "But there's one critically important question you have not answered during this budget meeting, Brenda.
And that is: What are you going to do to grow your people by 15 percent? You didn't share your plans for that.
Actually, you will need to grow your people by at least 20 percent this year to make sure they are ready to deliver an even more robust plan next year.
" Ouch! But Ian was absolutely right, and it was a great lesson he taught me that day - a lesson I'm glad I learned early in my career.
During every budget season thereafter, I always made sure I developed strategies and a clear plan for developing my direct reports' capabilities and careers, as well.
The Ratios "Balancing Act" Building business vs.
building people is just one ratio that great leaders to self-assess and make sure they are consistently achieving the right balance for their particular set of circumstances.
Here's an exercise to help you review how you spend your time.
Draw a circle, and let it serve as a pie graph that represents 100 percent of your time.
Your first task is to divide that graph into two pieces-one portion that reflects how much time you currently spend building business and the other portion that reflects how much time you spend building people.
How is your graph split as you think about how you allocate your time right now? What ratio reflects your current reality? For example, do you spend 80 percent of your time building business and 20 percent building people, or is it closer to 50:50? Next, underneath that same circle, draw a line, a colon, and another line that looks like this: ____________:___________.
Let this represent the optimal time ratio for how you probably should split your time between building business and building people.
Is it 30:70, 70:30, 50:50, or something else? You decide and write it on the ratio line.
Now, compare your own current, actual pie graph with the desired ratio that you noted.
How big is the difference between the two? How much work do you have to do to shift your existing ratio to be optimal? Here are some other ratios you can use to assess how you spend your time as a leader: Liked vs.
Respected - Yes, you can be both liked and respected as a leader, and a good balance between the two is very important.
Tasks vs.
Relationships - If you are like most leaders, you spend considerably more time on tasks than building relationships on the job.
Again, balance is key.
Asking vs.
Telling - Asking direct reports powerful questions to help them develop their ideas and skills is preferable in most circumstances than telling them outright what to do.
Talking vs.
Listening - Most leaders are good talkers, but one of the most important skills for a leader to develop is the ability to listen well.
These are just some of the ratios that you can use to assess your own success as a leader, especially in terms of people leadership.
Executives who advance to high levels in their careers have mastered their people skills and have become the kind of leader others are honored to follow.
Would you want to work for you? If not, achieving balanced ratios can help you become a more successful and fulfilled leader.