Article written by Danielle Hargrove, Marketing & Communications Lead, Educate+ | 15 October 2026
** For 5 specific tips relating to building the leadership skill of ‘Knowing what NOT to do’, scroll half-way down **
On the way home from the recent educate+ International Conference in Brisbane, I picked up a book at the airport bookshop. After several days immersed in ideas, conversations and professional learning, you might think I had enough to think about. Apparently, there was room for one more thing!
That book was Management Tips 2026: From Harvard Business Review. And what an incredible find!
It brings together short, practical insights drawn from HBR’s Management Tip of the Day newsletter, covering many of the everyday challenges of managing ourselves and leading others. Its appeal is its accessibility: you can read a tip, consider its relevance and identify something to try, without needing an uninterrupted afternoon.
For those working in Advancement, that is a major consideration! Our days can move quickly between strategic planning, sensitive conversations, multiple daily events, deadlines and even the unexpected request that somehow becomes everyone’s immediate priority. When I was working in a school, finding time to develop Leadership capability often became another item waiting patiently at the bottom of the list.
I’m happy to report though, that a book like this definitely offers a manageable starting point!
What particularly caught my attention was a group of tips about unrealistic goals, doing too much, overwork, declining additional work and respecting boundaries… scenarios that many of us often experience all too often!
Together, the tips prompted the question:
“How much of becoming a better leader involves working out what we should NOT be doing?”
If you’re like me, you might find a question like this to be quite uncomfortable, as our profession is built around relationships, service and commitment. We want to support colleagues, respond to opportunities and deliver excellent experiences for our communities. Saying yes often comes naturally.
Yet, as many of us experience, every yes makes a claim on yours or someone else’s time:
- Agreeing to another event might reduce the attention available for donor stewardship.
- Adding another Communications channel might compromise the quality of existing ones.
- Personally checking every detail might leave a capable colleague waiting for permission to progress.
It’s important to note that these are actually Leadership decisions, even when they arrive disguised as small operational requests.
For me, the value of this book is the opportunity to pause and examine those habits. Which activities deserve our attention? Which expectations need discussing? Where might our own behaviour be making work harder for others?
One practical approach would be to bring a single tip to a team meeting and ask: “Where does this happen for us and what could we change?”
If you’re curious to read more about 5 specific tips relating to building the leadership skill of ”Knowing what NOT to do”, continue reading below…
The Leadership Skill of ‘Knowing What Not to Do’
In Advancement, deciding what to stop doing can be quite a difficult decision. Every event has supporters. Every publication has a history. Every request seems reasonable in isolation. Together, however, they can exceed the capacity of even the most committed team.
Tips 14–19 and 40 in Management Tips 2026: From Harvard Business Review offer useful ideas for examining goals, workload and boundaries. The examples below apply the themes contained in the book to scenarios that you might find occurring in a busy Advancement office, on a daily basis!
Challenge the target, then offer a workable alternative
Tips 14 and 15
If you are asked to increase Enrolments by 20%, examine enquiry numbers, conversion rates, available places and staffing before agreeing.
Try: “With our current resources, we propose a 10% target. Reaching 20% would require additional investment and these changes…”
This develops the judgement to connect ambition with evidence and delivery.
Stop trying to do it all
Tip 16
If every Alumni invitation or social post requires your sign-off, ask whether your involvement improves the outcome.
Agree on templates, quality standards and escalation points, then give colleagues authority to proceed. Start with one recurring task and review it together after a month. Delegation should include sufficient time, support and authority.
Stop making overwork the success story
Tip 17
After a successful Giving Day, acknowledge the results and collaboration. If delivery required repeated late nights, review the workload before planning the next campaign.
Ask: “What should we simplify, resource differently or remove next year?” Routine overtime should trigger a planning conversation.
Make the trade-off explicit
Tip 18
When someone requests an additional event during an Admissions campaign, explain what accepting it would displace.
Try: “We can deliver this, but the campaign launch would move by two weeks. Which outcome takes priority?”
Where you cannot make that decision yourself, seek agreement from the person who can.
Notice overload and honour boundaries
Tips 19 and 40
Use regular check-ins to identify competing deadlines, growing backlogs and work repeatedly spilling into personal time. Ask what needs removing.
For evening events, agree on cover, response expectations and recovery time beforehand. Respect those arrangements when allocating opportunities and assessing performance.
Finish your next team meeting with three decisions:
- one activity to stop
- one to simplify
- one to defer
Record who will approve each change and when you will review its impact.
Building Leadership capability means practising these decisions, explaining them clearly and taking responsibility for the priorities that remain.
