Some years ago, when I was working as a productivity consultant, I was running a development program for a group of executive leaders in a global water engineering company. I distinctly remember a conversation I had with a leader who was challenged to balance their workload into the available hours.
He said to me, “My problem is my boss doesn’t understand my priorities.”
Now the thing is, the boss was the CEO. I was absolutely perplexed that the CEO and this executive, who reported directly to him, were not on the same page about what the priorities were for their organisation.
When I delved into it, it became clear the CEO had not clearly communicated a vision for where the organisation was going. Had not identified what was strategically important, what needed focus now, and what could wait until later.