Prioritization is a superpower. But unlike x-ray vision or super strength, it’s easier to master than you might think. Let’s take a moment to pause and reflect.
- Microsoft’s new 2022 Future Of Work Report confirms what many of us have seen (or felt) first hand—burnout is on the rise.
- 38% of survey respondents tied the increase in burnout to an “overwhelming workload”. A lot of factors can lead to heavy workloads, but lack of clear priorities (or constantly shifting ones) is a common culprit.
- Burnout is just one of the downsides of poor prioritization. If you’re not consistently focusing on what matters most you’re also wasting resources, putting tactics ahead of strategy and compromising overall effectiveness.
- Put simply, your boat needs a compass.
- The good news is that creating that compass doesn’t need to be difficult. The first step is to involve the right people.
- At the team or department level, the ideal cast is a mix of subject matter experts, front-line do-ers and people with decision making authority.
- The next step is to define the options you’re prioritizing. This will probably be a mix of things you’re doing already and things you might do to achieve your goals.
- After that, it’s time to choose a framework. There are many options here. Your best choice will depend on a few variables, including the nature of the things being prioritized and the degree of rigour required.
- Frameworks we’ve road tested successfully include Stop-Start-Continue, MoSCoW, Weighted Scorecard and the Eisenhower Matrix.
- The latter takes its name from this helpful nugget of wisdom from Dwight Eisenhower: “What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
- Whichever framework you pick, you’ll need to define some criteria. What makes potential actions valuable? It’s best to question together as a group to maximize buy-in.
- The next-to-last step is to define the process—what happens when and who owns it.
- Ideally this process becomes a repeated practice and not just a one-time occurrence.
- If you want to dive deeper into prioritization, check out Do This First. It’s a prioritization handbook we created specifically for marketing leaders. And it’s free to download.
