The thing I never put on my website
And yet it changes more than people expect
My coach asked me an interesting question recently: what is one thing you do that benefits all your clients, that you can't really put on your website?
My answer surprised even me a little: I help them manage their diary.
That sounds far too small and tactical to belong in a conversation about leadership, strategy or high-stakes decision making. It certainly does not sound like the kind of thing senior leaders imagine they are paying for when they work with a trusted advisor.
And yet, I see again and again how much changes when a leader’s diary starts to reflect what they say matters most.
Because the diary tells the truth
It shows whether strategic work is being protected or squeezed to the margins. It shows whether difficult conversations are being had early enough, or postponed until they become heavier than they needed to be. It shows whether the leader is making space to think, or simply responding to whatever arrives on their desk.
I have worked with more than one leader whose biggest shift did not begin with a new strategy, but with something much smaller. Protecting thinking time. Moving a regular meeting. Creating more space before and after something difficult. Stopping their week from being eaten alive by work that felt urgent, but was not especially important.
None of that sounds dramatic. But often it is those small structural shifts that make bigger strategic shifts possible.
Behaviour follows its environment
Because behaviour doesn't happen in a vacuum. The diary is part of the environment a leader works inside, and that environment either makes strategic behaviour easier or keeps pulling them back into reactivity. Change that environment, and it becomes much easier for different choices, habits and behaviours to take hold.
So if the work that matters most rarely seems to get the best of your time and attention, it may be worth asking:
What does my diary suggest I am really prioritising?
I work one-to-one with senior leaders, helping them build strategies to tackle complex challenges. If you’d like to explore what that could look like for you, you can find more here.
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