[su_dropcap style=”flat”]T[/su_dropcap]HE MOST OVERLOOKED factor in effective leadership is capacity: the time, attention, and energy that you, as an individual leader, can give. You cannot manage people, projects, or priorities without it. You cannot remain engaged in the development of others without it. And leadership capacity is a necessary enabler for completing all of the elusive and important tasks on your plate, as well as for influencing others over whom you have no authority, navigating complexity, and dealing with the unexpected.
But most leaders today just don’t have enough capacity to accomplish all this. Consider this finding from a Corporate Executive Board study (pdf) conducted in 2013: The average manager has 12 direct reports, but had only seven before the recession of 2009. This leap represents a 70 percent increase, in personnel management alone (to say nothing of additional projects or other responsibilities). Even the most skilled leader cannot sustain the same level of effectiveness against that surge in demand.
Read more: Your Margin of Power
