Clarify Your Value
to the Organization

Functional Leaders:
Deliver high-value products, programs, and support within their specific areas.

Senior Leaders/Executives:
Focus on creating revenue and increasing the company's overall valuation.

Shift Focus from Functional to Strategic Leadership

When it's no longer your job to deliver functional work, your time should be spent on:

• Managing the team toward key goals.
• Building relationships with stakeholders and managing expectations.
• Identifying patterns and themes within your organization and industry.
• Removing obstacles for your team.
• Contributing to cross-functional efficiency and driving influence across the company.

Make Time for Strategic Thinking

Commit to strategic thinking by:

• Setting aside 2 hours per week for reflection. Treat this time as non-negotiable, like a meeting 
you cannot cancel.
• Performing a weekly SWOT analysis: Review your meetings, analyze feedback, stakeholder sentiment, and track how well youʼre meeting goals with data.

Outcome:
Develop a focused action list—clarify information, delegate tasks, create meeting agendas. Ensure every item relates back to strategic goals, avoiding distractions.

Delegate Effectively

Distinguish between task delegation
and strategic delegation:
If you are still heavily developing something before delegating it, youʼre likely delegating tasks. Shift to strategic delegation by passing off undeveloped aspects of a strategy

Delegation Conversation Template:
“Iʼm giving this to you because [insert compliment] and it aligns with your growth in [insert growth area]. What do you need from me to get started? Would you like to check in before the final deliverable?”

Optimize Workflows and Tackle Inefficiencies

Action Steps:
Sketch out workflows during reflection time.
Understand the whole body of work and identify inefficiencies, especially at the intersections of interdependent work and departments.

Align Your Focus to Strategic Goals

Ensure your focus stays on strategic priorities.
If any of your actions from reflection time do not tie directly back to a strategic goal, reassess to avoid creating distractions for your team (i.e., shiny penny syndrome).

Feeling like youʼre not “getting things done”
because of early career conditioning to deliver functional results?
Remember, strategic thinking is a high-value deliverable 
in senior leadership.

Protect Your Priorities

Action Item:
Block time on your calendar for anything that comes out of your reflection as your responsibility. Protect your time for the rest of the week to ensure your priorities are executed effectively.