How free is your calendar?

One of the things I am passionate about and I have been working on in my new assignment is to create the next set of leaders from the managers we have. It is a big mental shift for lot of folks. For some it is a great opportunity to learn new skills and become a leader. For very few others it feels like losing their power and losing everything they have created for themselves in the organization. Anyway, I don't expect everyone to make the cut  : )

One rule of thumb I gave them was to check how free their calendars were. This tip was given to me by my boss years back. That is a good measure of how much of a micro manager you are. If you are in every meeting, that means that your calendar is full, and most importantly you don't trust the folks to make decisions. Start by not attending few meetings even if you are uncomfortable with it. Empower the team to make the right decision. If you worry that the team is not going to make the right decision, tell the team what you care about... I call it "drawing the box of constraints"... and let them make the decisions within the box so they feel ownership of it. It frees up your time so that you can think more about the big picture...

No doubt, its a tough skill to learn.... I am still learning this art of figuring out how much to get involved...

How free is your calendar : )