Leadership as improv

Part of skillful leadership involves the ability to be quick, nimble and responsive rather than slow, hesitant and unresponsive. This is especially vital when the pace at which things need to occur requires the right tempo of leadership. Here are three ways to increase your potential as agile improvisational leader.

Address all questions as soon as possible Rather than rely on ponderous analysis, get your questions answered as soon as possible using whatever possible sources you have available. Postpone no questions to another day that emerge today.

Define doneness as "just enough" to do the job Never spend more than 10% of time on a task to complete the last 10% of it. Don't delay the acceptable imperfect for the postponed perfect. As soon as they're "just enough" to get the job done, get things out the door.

Communicate in real time As soon as you know something other people don't, communicate it with whatever media you have available. Refuse to support scheduled meetings that excuse people from real-time communication. Create agreements with people on how fast information needs to flow and how to make that happen.