Episode D.021 The Key To Effective Change Is Priorities

Priority principles 
Don’t allow your employees to confuse activity with accomplishment. Being busy is not the same as being productive. Spending every minute of every day doing things that don’t matter won’t help you, them or your business. 
 

1. You can't have it all 
2. Work smarter not harder for higher return 
3. Good is the enemy of best 
4. Be proactive instead of reactive 
5. Tackle high important/high urgent tasks first

How do you determine what to do first?
Teach your employees to have a priority plan. If they don’t have a priority plan, they will spend their day reacting to what is important to someone else. 

1. Most people overestimate the importance of most things
2. When small demands are given too much attention, big problems arise 
3. Too many priorities causes paralysis (making everything a priority means nothing is) 

Priority Solutions
“The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first.” - Robert J. McKain

1. Put first things first using the pareto principle
2. Identify priorities using the 3 R's (required, return, reward) 
3. Keep a margin. Activity is not necessarily accomplishment. The margin is the space between doing and being.

Priority Questions to ask your employees

1. Where do you need to work smarter instead of harder? 
2. What good things can you stop doing in order to do the best? 
3. What must you do to become more proactive instead of reactive? 
4. What can you do to stop doing urgent but unimportant things?

Written by: Donna Kunde​