Setting Priorities

Is anyone in your organization missing deadlines because they are overwhelmed by job responsibilities? Many people find themselves pulled in several directions due to diverse project and team responsibilities. And they report to, or are accountable to, several people with conflicting priorities.

How can you support others to set priorities?

1. The best support you can provide is to ensure the individual understands the culture and the criteria important to establishing priorities. Are priorities always set by deadline? How does senior leadership influence priorities?

2. Periodically ask what support the individual needs to be successful. He or she may feel too overwhelmed to even ask for help.

3. The following questions also support an individual to successfully evaluate priority actions on a daily basis:

What is most important for me to accomplish today?
What is most important for me to communicate today?
What actions will move me toward fulfilling my responsibilities?

Setting priorities and using them to guide actions causes a dramatic increase in productivity – try it out.