Becoming a Better Boss Secret 21: Priorities!

When you have taken time to develop your vision and expectations (Secret 25), establishing priorities will be much easier for all. Great bosses do not assume their employees understand priorities.

You will want to have regular conversations with each employee about their work tasks, and how they should make decisions on how to prioritize.

During the conversation:

• Make it easy for them to talk with you about what is causing stress in their work.
• Ask them what new assignments they have taken on (don’t assume you know).
• Have them show you what projects are on their list of priorities. Help them adjust the list if needed.
• Help them determine how tasks that are considered priority, tie in to the big picture.

As the boss, keep your priority list up-to-date! Here are some tips for establishing priorities.

• Have a conversation with yourself, as described above!
• Set aside uninterrupted planning time.
• Work to identify and eliminate unnecessary work.
• Don’t fall in to the “we’ve always done it this way” trap. There are often better ways to do things that we fail to consider.
• Find clever ways to include your staff in completing assignments.

If you are struggling with what is most important, try these questions:

• What’s most important – right now?
• What task will have the most impact on business results?
• What have you promised to do?
• What tasks need to be done to meet deadlines?

Think about this: as much as 80% of your success today will come from 20% of the items on your to-do list.

For more information and 24 more secrets, check out Becoming a Better Boss – Your Guidebook to 25 Fundamental Management Responsibilities now available at Amazon.com!