In my work with organizations, whether guiding a student affairs division through a curricular approach, facilitating strategic planning with a nonprofit, or aligning a senior leadership team, I help clarify aims and align actions. When that alignment clicks, something surprising happens: things get easier for us and more effective for those we serve.
I call this magical real estate, that rare space where we get better outcomes with less time, energy, effort, and resources. Once leaders and teams experience it, they want more of it everywhere. And the good news? It’s not magic. It’s the result of clear focus, aligned action, discernment, and the courage to let go.
Here are a few key mindsets, strategies, and examples to help you move toward this magical real estate.
Mindsets
- From “do more with less” to “do less, so we can be more”
The old model is unsustainable (and unrealistic). Instead of scrambling to do more, more, and more, we take time to clarify what matters most, get vigilant about investing there, and let the rest go. - How can we do less, so we can be more?
This is a powerful question, one that is powerful in continuing to ask than any finite answer. There won’t be easy answers, but they will be powerful. - Balance entrepreneurial with editorial
Innovation is important. But so is pruning. Most leaders and organizations I work with have dozens of new ideas. They’re eager to implement them all to make their organizations better, but they struggle with cutting, eliminating, and letting go.
Strategies
- Essentialism exercise
Have each team member list their top 5 things to stop or reduce. Have teams within an office or department discuss the individual suggestion and identify the top 5. The group’s top 5 are clear possibilities to explore, and so are the individual suggestions. These tend to sort into three categories: 1) easy wins – eliminate them, 2) items needing cross-functional coordination, process, and conversation, and 3) critical tasks that need clear rationale and purpose (and always have). - Clarify aims collectively
Too often, individuals or small groups set priorities, but these priorities are not shared across the organization. We end up working hard, while also competing and cancelling each other out. Shared clarity on purpose makes it easier to align actions and eliminate redundancies. - Name the “tyranny of more”
Activities accumulate over time. Sometimes we hold onto them out of habit, pride, or fear. Creating space requires letting go, thoughtfully and together.
Examples
- Rethink meetings and email
In the activity above, meetings and emails are consistently the top two responses. Can we just get rid of them? No. Meetings and emails are how we communicate, collaborate, and work together. However, we can be clear about what meetings are suitable for and what emails are for, and make sure we use them in alignment. Meetings are for thinking together. Emails are for sharing information. Using one for the other’s purpose is a mess. - Streamline approvals
Simplify processes for staff time, leave, expenses, and reduce the administrative drag. - Reduce regular reports
You might cut your weekly report from six questions to two. You might make them monthly reports rather than weekly. I often hear those who submit regular reports find them time-consuming busy work, and those who receive them don’t even read them. Let’s communicate about these challenges and save us all. - Merge similar efforts
Combine three low-impact events into one can’t-miss gathering. Save effort, increase value. - Cut overlap and redundancy
Clarify who owns what. Empower teams to say “no” to duplication. - Invite intentional letting go
Encourage staff to identify work that no longer serves the clarified aims, especially legacy initiatives they inherited. Affirm that letting go is an act of leadership.
When we get focused and aligned, we reclaim time, energy, and clarity. That’s the “magical real estate,” where we create more powerful outcomes with less of our limited resources/
If you want to explore how to find this magical real estate in your team or organization, let’s connect.
