Are you effective? Are you struggling to prioritise tasks? Or maybe you feel overwhelmed by the demands of your role? Can you find the time to improve any of this? How about helping others on your team achieve their own goals and priorities?
Balancing the demands of work while finding time for professional development can be tricky. This means you might not relish your work as much as you’d like to. But it is part of your job, as well as helping others on your team do the same. So what can we do to figure out what we should spend our time on?
The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, states that roughly 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. This principle is often used in business and productivity to identify the most impactful factors that contribute to success. The Pareto principle can guide us to decide what is worth focusing on and what is not. To help understand what our own top 20 per cent should be, we can ask:
- What must I do? What is required of me?
- What should I do? What gives me the most yield?
- What do I love to do? What is the most rewarding to me? And is it in alignment with what my company needs right now?
We can also consider the type of tasks and how much time we should spend in each type. As a rule of thumb, we want to spend 80% of our time doing work we are good at, 20% of our time in our learning stretch zone. And that applies to our team members as well. To help your team members prioritise their tasks effectively, try to align on organisational priorities, and create a clear understanding of what constitutes a strength zone and a learning zone. Encourage open communication and provide opportunities for growth and development in the areas where people are working outside of their strengths.
Another strategy we can use is effective delegation, which can be its own topic. Delegation allows us to maximise productivity and achieve more in less time. By delegating work to our team members, we help them stretch and grow, while freeing our time to do the same.
Prioritising your tasks and resources requires ongoing self-reflection and growth. It’s important to make time to regularly reassess what is truly important and adjust accordingly. By understanding your own strengths and weaknesses and those of your team members, you can build a strong and effective leadership team that delivers high returns.