You are in a meeting, the conversation is heating up. And you can sense it. You can feel it. You can see it coming… And then the bomb drops:
“This is very important, let’s make it a priority”
And you leave the meeting with more things on the table. Another super important thing to do, in a checklist where everything is a priority. And a wave of pressure, stress and sometimes frustration or anger, hitting your schedule.
But this post is not about how to handle your priorities or display various techniques on how to take decisions. A simple Google search and you will find plenty of articles just by querying the famous saying by Karen Martin: “When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority”.
I am writing this post to share you a very simple tip. Liberate you from the priority hell, and more specifically, from the usual suspects of this topic: collaboration with your manager or people outside the circle of your inner team (inner team = the peers you are working closely together on a common backlog of items or objectives).
The blind spot
The problem arises when people have a blind spot on your agenda, your todo list or backlog of priorities. So when a new priority comes forth, the person on the other side is low on sight of your previously “agreed” priorities.
Let’s face it. With one pair of eyes, legs and hands, we can barely multitask, and when we do, we are actually doing things serially in small fragments, practically delaying the outcome of all those tasks. On a personal level, how many priorities can you handle within a day or two, without working overtime and burning out? One? Two? Three? And on a team level, how many tasks can a team work in parallel… as a team? One? Two? Three?
In practice, either on a personal or team level, we can only work productively on one to three priorities per day. Anything beyond that number should not be labeled a priority. They are just tasks in a backlog of items to be delegated, re-negotiated and re-prioritized in the future, after the “real” priorities are sorted out.
But we need to show some empathy on the other side. How should I know what you have on your plate unless you let me know? How can I see the full picture, unless you show it to me? How can I balance things and make the right decision unless I have all the cards laid down on the table?
Offense to the rescue
Instead of being a “yes man”, a receiver of orders and priorities, challenge the other side. When you are injecting more “important” work in, you’d better be ready to take something “important” out. Grow the space to work on those one to three priorities today and tomorrow.
So here is a sample dialog on how you can make this happen:
VP: “Item Y is very important for our strategy, we need to make it a priority and start working on it”
Manager: “I hear you, but on our previous meeting, we agreed that X was super important as well, so we made it a priority. Given that we do not have the resources to work on both items and successfully meet both goals, we are putting X on the ice and we are focusing on Y. Are we in agreement?”
VP: “Well… looking at both X and Y, I think X sounds more important, and since it is already work in progress, let’s put Y on the agenda for our next meeting and re-assess”
High chances… a Z becomes a priority until then, and Y is postponed forever.
It is super easy for someone to create work for someone else, but it is damn difficult to make choices and take responsibility.
So next time you encounter “priorities”, go into the offense. Challenge the other side, debate, collaborate. And if your space is full, take something out, create room and add something in. Keep it healthy.
