During a time when there are endless potential opportunities, numerous obstacles, and more to do than time to get things done. Most individuals, teams, and leaders feel stressed when they feel that they aren’t accomplishing what they want, aren’t making progress fast enough, and have conflicting priorities.
How to get everything done is the question that both individuals and organizations ask themselves all the time. Typically, the right answer is you can’t do everything! Author, Patrick Lencioni stated it best “If everything is important, then nothing is”. Lencioni encourages individuals, families, and organizations to focus on what is most important and rally around that initiative or value for a 3 to 12-month period. Focusing on what’s most important allows you to manage in the moment when there are more opportunities or other items hit the “to do” list, while making progress towards the future.
The great thing about this concept is that it can be used in about any situation…
- Sports teams – solidify an approach to improving critical skills needed to win
- Businesses – identify initiatives that could have the biggest impact on your bottom line
- Research programs – prioritize a path when there are several possible research directions
- Education – selecting a program that will gain buy-in from students, faculty, and families
- Families – find ways to address your forever long to do list and activity options
- Individuals – create a plan to move forward on accomplishing your goals and dreams
While there is no quick fix or magic bullet, identifying your priorities can open the doors of communication, focus your efforts, encourage teamwork, show visible progress, and impact what you set out to accomplish. Rather than asking how to get everything done, the big question that should be asked is what can be done to make the most impact and progress towards the most important goals.
The following are a few action items for working towards your next most important thing.
Get input – gather insight from the team on what they believe you should be working towards, obstacles in your way as well as how everyone will prioritize this goal over other tasks
Decide action items – set up detailed tasks, goals, milestones and timelines that align everyone to the same focus and priorities
Prioritize the goal – ensure that all leaders, groups, and team members set their priorities and tasks to the ensure that goal is met
Continuously communicate – share your priorities from the beginning and continue to communicate progress, obstacle resolution, and goals with the team
Celebrate the win – when the goal is complete, take time to praise the accomplishment and the work that the team put into your initiative
Start again – make your planning sessions a continued part of how your organization operates and develops both short and long-term strategies
For your initiative to succeed, your goal should stay top of mind monthly, weekly, and even daily. If there is no focus on this established priority, it is important to reevaluate if this is the right priority. If it is the right priority, refocus on getting back on track, if it is not, revisit the goal and start the process again.
Melissa works with individuals, teams, and organizations, to build strategies and programs around what is most important right now, create action items, and complete tasks for goal execution.
