Being forced to do more with less time, less staff, and fewer resources for professional development often seems an impossible task. But leaders today are routinely asked to do more with reduced assets. Here are five practical solutions for one of leadership’s ongoing challenges: doing more with less.

1. How to handle less face time among your key constituencies

William Bratton is a leader I’ve always tried to learn from. Lots of people can stand out in one job, but Bratton has succeeded in complex leadership roles in a variety of settings. He is masterful at dealing with limited resources and technology change. He also recognizes the importance of holding onto old principles that work.

As police commissioner in New York City, Bratton recognized one thing that contributed to recent policing breakdowns in Ferguson, Baltimore and New York is the lack of personal relationships and positive face-to-face interactions with the community. Bratton’s solution? A recent Boston Globe article explained:

“…he is going back to the future, rolling out a patrol plan modeled on one he introduced to the streets of Boston in the late 1970s. The idea is that by keeping cops to the same streets, the same neighborhoods, they will become part of the communities they serve. As ordinary people get to know them, those ordinary people become the eyes and ears of the NYPD.”

One of the challenges for any leader today is how to overcome the negative impacts of lost “face time” needed to build meaningful personal relationships. What practices are you instituting to create more positive personal interactions in your organization?

2. How to deal with less staff

Virtually every organization today is running very lean and the risk of burnout is much greater. Leaders of the future will have to continually master working with fewer people. If you’re feeling overloaded yourself, the importance of “intense focus” is key. Look at your existing goals and ask these questions:

–What is the economic impact of this goal?
–Is it aligned with the company’s strategy?
–How important is it to my boss, my team, and other key stakeholders?
–What is my level of passion, energy and talent for it?
–Do we have the resources to accomplish this goal?

Ultimately, you need to have a conversation with your boss to make sure you’re aligned on these priorities. And you’ll want to do the same thing with your team to avoid burning them out. See the Harvard Business Review blog post “Strategies for the Shorthanded” for more useful tips on succeeding with a smaller staff.

3. How to deal with fewer resources for leadership development

The leadership pipeline in the U.S. is dangerously thin. Boomer execs are retiring. Many organizations have a legacy of layoffs over the last two decades, which often took out future high potential candidates. And leadership roles are increasingly complex and demanding, so there aren’t enough people capable and willing to fill these roles. Accelerating leadership development is an ongoing challenge. (One comment I get a lot is: “How can we get these ‘high potentials’ 20 years of experience in 3 years?”)

A key place to start is identifying the specific characteristics needed by great leaders in your organization. A recent McKinsey study concluded that four kinds of behavior accounted for the vast majority of leadership effectiveness.

–Be supportive
–Operate with a strong results orientation
–Seek different perspectives
–Solve problems effectively

Check out “Decoding Leadership: What Really Matters” for more insights on where you should focus your leadership development programs, particularly if resources are limited.

4. Should you have less tolerance for poor performance?

One of the most surprising findings in researching our book The Executive Guide to High-Impact Talent Management was how often poor performance was accepted by senior executives. Let’s assume the problem is not the lack of adequate training from the organization. Then the question is: should you act or not? Mitch Rothschild, CEO of Vitals, a web business that connects patients and doctors, observes:

“One of the things I’ve learned is that more than 90 percent of personnel problems don’t get better, and that if you’ve got a problem employee, the rehabilitation just so rarely works. So you have to confront it and deal with it.”

For more insights from Rothschild’s experience, see his “Pushing Beyond Your Comfort Zones” interview in the New York Times.

5. How to lead with less time

Leaders today are expected to “multi-task” as never before. The confluence of new technologies, increasingly complex and diverse organizations, and fast-changing markets has turned most leaders into highly skilled jugglers. The irony, according to William Deresiewicz, author of Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite, is that what great leaders really need is solitude to think through their values and the critical issues their organizations face.

Read Deresiewicz’s address to West Point cadets on “Solitude and Leadership: If You Want Others To Follow, Learn to Be Alone With Your Thoughts” for a provocative discussion on the state of leadership and the importance of spending time alone in an age where technology makes it increasingly difficult.

Doing more with less – time, resources, and patience – will increasingly set great leaders apart from the pack. Do you agree? What have you learned to do differently to succeed in a resource-constrained environment? What do you wish someone had taught you sooner? Contact me to explore how I can help you accelerate your leadership development program.