I’m spending more than 20% of my time on internal reporting. How can I spend my time on revenue-generating activities instead?

The one thing that seems to always come up in organizations is the balance between managing inside the business and working outside the business. First, try to understand how much time the leaders in the business spend managing internal demands. How much time are they spending building board decks, preparing for senior leadership readouts, etc. If that is more than 15 or 25% of their time, the organization is missing opportunities. Beware of the “reporting creep” – what starts out as a desire to stay connected to the business can quickly turn into a massive distraction for operators in the business. As leaders, we sometimes forget that when we ask for information from reports down the chain… we create a fire drill to deliver what they think we want to hear. What we need to remember is that there are many ways for us to get the information we need that do not include endless conference calls and elaborate decks!

Pro Tip for leaders: If you ask for some data and it is delivered to you in an incredibly professional presentation… someone you are paying really well spent more time on that deck when they could have been driving revenue with customers or partners. Communicate to your people the concept of minimalism in reporting. Give me what I need to manage the business and get back to serving partners and customers.

Sponsored by our partners at EagleTEQ. Written by Curt Allen, Managing Partner.