Strategic leaders will always run short of one thing – time. Leaders who look farther than anybody else have more things to do than their short-sighted counterparts. When the vision is great, the work is guaranteed to be greater.

Visionary leaders often see network building a top priority, but there is also payroll to do and people to hire. This is why time management for leaders is very challenging.

So how can strategic leaders better handle their time? How can they best allocate every minute to get the most out of their day? Here are some helpful tips.

Look at the bigger picture of your time

Many leaders are not intentionally using their time so they end up doing the mundane over the critical. One rule sums it very well – never let the big things be at the mercy of smaller things.

As a leader you need to carefully think about your tasks at any given time while having the flexibility to shift gears, from doing random paper work to meeting a possible strategic partner, say in 5 minutes.

Things that you can delegate should be assigned ASAP. Identifying the right person to do something for you allows you to hit two birds with one stone – you free up your time and you help an employee grow, empowering him to take on bigger tasks. The long-term goal here is to multiply yourself through that person, a smart way of preparing your business for future growth.

Go for real-time collaboration

Cloud storage has opened the possibility of real-time collaboration. Stop wasting time sending and receiving versions of an active project. Work on it everywhere, at any time, that way you and your team can achieve more on the get-go. A collaborative workforce using the right tools is a force to be reckoned with.

Optimize then outsource

When your business is growing fast it is easy to take shortcuts and just outsource the people that you need along the way. Outsourcing is an effective way to leverage human resource requirements, saving you time and money in the long run. This is as “strategic” as you can get in human capitalization.

But you also need to optimize your internal business processes first. Consider outsourcing only when you have exhausted all efforts to address an operational bottleneck.

Mind the P/PC balance

Stephen Covey talked about the P/PC balance in his book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. “P” stands for production, or your output for the day. “PC” stands for production capability or your ability to produce quality work.

Taking care of yourself is taking care of your production capability. Be stress-free, have a positive attitude towards your business, eat the right food, exercise. When you have a healthy body and mind, you can produce quality output.

In the P/PC context, it is hard to justify sleeping less just to answer as many clients as you can. Take care of yourself first and you will not waste time dealing with an over-fatigued body, a costlier scenario than letting a few prospects slide.

Strategic leaders see bigger things and that is why TIME MANAGEMENT IS A SKILL WORTH MASTERING. Get your priorities straight and invest your time where it really matters.

If you consider yourself a strategic leader always invest your time where it really matters.