More Impact, More Easily

1System one: Productivity

If you're feeling like the pace of work is out of control, you're not alone. Too many of the middle managers I work with report feeling like they're getting busier every year.

At this level, you are dealing with increased workloads, larger teams and more frequent change. On top of this, you're being pulled in two directions. You're expected to be a more hands‐on manager for your direct reports and be a more strategic leader to fulfil the expectations of your executive. In the middle of all this, you're doing more individual contributor work than ever before (according to a 2023 survey by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, outlined in ‘Stop wasting your most precious resource: Middle managers’).

So it makes perfect sense that you're searching for greater productivity.

Let me tell you what I know about productivity. In most managerial jobs, when people talk about productivity, what they're really talking about is time management — that is, getting more done in the hours available. But time management is a multi‐billion‐dollar business focused on entirely the wrong thing: how to get more out of your day.

This tenet underpins the phrase ‘do more with less’, which you're no doubt already painfully familiar with. As a middle manager, this can seem like your sole goal in life. But the right way to focus your thinking around productivity is not more but what to get out of your day. Because in today's reality, no ‘more’ is available. You are a finite resource. ...