How to make priorities your top priority
Too busy? Too much to do? Not good. When your workload is greater than your capacity, you have no control over what bounces off the back of the truck. It could be the most important thing you should be doing today.
Organizations of a certain size can handle the productivity ups and downs of their employees to a certain extent. Small businesses, though, are seriously dependent upon how well a very few people function. Often, the whole enterprise hangs on the productivity of one key person — you.
So it isn't just a good thing for small businesses to manage workflow well — it is vital. Forbes routinely tells us that the failure rate for small businesses can run as high as 80%.
“Too busy” and “too much to do” are not the same thing. The first refers to a dangerous mindset; the second is about a failure to manage the work properly. We often use them together because each feeds the other.
The strength of small-business people is that they generally have an entrepreneurial streak in their make-up, so they are perhaps more innovative and action-driven than people in larger operations.
However, that tendency can encourage a “just do it” attitude, and that can be fatal for the business. Leaping into action in the present is not always the best use of the decision- maker's time, effort and attention.
It is an excellent management practice to stop now and then during the day and question oneself: “Is what I am doing right now the most important thing for me to be doing right now?”
This implies, of course, that the person has a way to answer the question. Does he or she know his or her responsibilities, including the ones that aren't clamoring for attention at that particular moment? And does he or she have a way to sort among them and make adjustments as circumstances change?
A manager should never be in a situation where multiple simultaneous crises demand attention — when some of the problems could have been anticipated, or could have been avoided entirely.
Too many managers, especially in small businesses, are task-driven doers, happiest when they have a lot of work to engage in. That is not good management, and its practitioners often are the ones whose processes do not work well. Their attention too often is absorbed in problem solving when it should be in problem anticipation.
On the other hand, such managers do not have much time to devote to detailed planning and preparation. So what's the solution?
Priorities.
Priorities come in various shapes and sizes, and can easily become one more sticky part of the problem if they are not handled well. When we say, “This is a priority,” we mean it is a high priority.
But the true understanding of priorities is that they are in hierarchies — high, low and in gradations. Establishing the hierarchies, placing planned activities in them and managing them is what managers do.
You can't set priorities on just fond hopes and vague expectations, so the manager, working with staff members, develops specific descriptions of what is to be done, including identification of sequences and dependencies as appropriate.
Priorities are assigned to those specifics based on such factors as importance to the organization, availability of resources, windows of opportunity, etc.
The activities are given time estimates, and then placed on an externally displayed schedule. The schedule is taken seriously by staff members and enforced by managers. It is adjusted whenever necessary, perhaps several times daily.
Done properly, this process washes out overbooking and unrealistic expectations. And, of course, it eliminates unpleasant surprises.
It is relatively simple and need not be at all time-consuming. It does require clarity in planning and discipline in execution — so it may help shape up the organization.
And it's a morale booster. Few things feel as good as getting things done on time.
Jim Milliken is a Portland-based consultant and trainer in skills of personal productivity, project management and organizational development. He blogs at JimMillikenProject.blogspot.com and can be reached at jim@millikenproject.com.
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