High-performing CEOs (and other C-suite leaders) treat time as a scarce resource to make effective, high-impact decisions across the organization. In order to use time strategically, they must filter all decisions around business impact, and they do so via 3 operating tiers:
- Tier 1 problems are considered business critical and require the leader’s immediate attention (e.g., revenue at risk, execution failure visibility).
- Tier 2 problems are important, but not urgent. Thus, these typically require an acknowledgement of some sort, but no action is required (e.g., cross-team friction, operating model inefficiencies).
- Tier 3 problems are the ones the leader will likely expect you to solve independently.
In order to productively engage with C-suite leaders, you must use this framework to your advantage. In essence, you must frame your problem appropriately to enable win-win outcomes. Your goal is to communicate 4 questions in a concise, standard manner:
- Impact - What does this affect? (e.g., revenue, delivery)
- Timeline - When will this matter?
- Decision - What are the options? (2-3)
- Recommendation - What do you think should be done?
I call this an “executive briefing”, and it’s best to articulate this information in a one-page document that can be easily shared. I prefer sharing via email because it allows me to provide additional context, monitor progress, and enable asynchronous decision-making.
For decisions that can be made without explicit senior-leader involvement, appropriate phrasing can be introduced (e.g., “If I don’t receive further input by X date, I’ll proceed with Option A given the business need.”)
As a senior leader in any organization, you have a responsibility to detect critical patterns and challenges, identify options, and take appropriate action. For challenges that are more systemic in nature and warrant executive-level engagement, it’s imperative to employ this framing technique.
By doing so, it will help you achieve the clarity you need while directly supporting how senior leaders process information and make decisions.