Executives and managers often face this reality: There aren’t enough hours in the day to finish everything that needs to get done.

In this situation, acknowledging the time you have left can make all the difference, leadership experts Karin Hurt and David Dye write in their recent Lets Grow Leaders blog posting.

When faced with limited time and a large list of tasks to finish, the pair suggest that the bigger issue is identifying the most important leadership action that needs to be tackled next.

“Maybe you need to focus on developing your people, or you want to get everyone organized around key strategic outcomes. Maybe there is a new initiative you haven’t implemented well and need to improve,” they write. “You may not have time for everything, but you have time for that.”

The posting suggests, in other words, that effective leaders are those in this situation who focus on the one task or behavior that can make the most difference.

“It’s amazing what you can achieve in a small amount of time,” the posting asserts. “You can help people grow through short exchanges (and it’s often more effective than a long conversation).”

The full blog posting – “How to Lead When There’s Not Enough Time – can be accessed at this link.