In the business world, it’s so easy for an issue to arise and the immediate reaction is to make preventing it from happening a priority. Time after time, businesses add more items to their list of priorities, until eventually their entire operation becomes a priority.
As you can tell, this isn’t productive and ultimately it can lead to confusion among team members, burnout at every level and focusing on the wrong things. All of which can cause a company to struggle mightily to find their true north and actually move forward.
As a business coach in the Louisville, Kentucky area, I have worked with companies of all sizes and industries and this issue with priority mismanagement isn’t unique to any type or size of business. While I offer many services for my clients, priority management has to take the lead in this situation, and if your company is struggling to find the right path forward then this article, and possibly my coaching services, is for you.
When you have all these “priorities” as a result of things which come up during normal business operations, the issue ultimately lies in your company goals. As a business leader, executive or manager, you must understand how your daily activities advance your company goals. While certain policies and procedures are in place to help guide you through the work day, you should be advancing the overall goals through your actions as a leader.
Rather than trying to make things a priority based on the immediate need in the moment, it’s best to take a step back and determine what key metrics, actions or scenarios always advance the goals of the company. Once you understand the things which drive the company forward, you make those your focus and everything else will fall into place.
Priority management comes down to understanding your goals and then devoting yourself to these important tasks. If something comes up and it doesn’t impact your business in a positive way, you shouldn’t make it a priority. It’s okay to say no to an opportunity which might not make sense or even better in many cases, delegate it to someone else.
When you understand priority management as the leader of the team, you can easily communicate with your people and help them take on this important skill as well. By being transparent and sharing the reasons why an item takes priority, you are helping everyone get on board and pull in the same direction.
If your business can use assistance in priority management, I am here to help. Below you will find an excerpt from a training session I did recently to give you a better idea of how we tackle this issue, and if you feel this can help your company please reach out to me today!
I have been to organization after organization after organization as a business coach, and all the time, all over the world; I go in and everything seems to be a priority. This Vortex that we mentioned earlier just goes around and around and everybody feels like everything’s a priority, and if everything is a priority, nothing really is a priority.
