Developing the Leader Within You - Priorities : Part 3

We will continue our leadership journey, learning new skills and refreshing old ones, with John C. Maxwell's book Developing the Leader Within You.

There are two things that are most difficult to get people to do: to think and to do things in order of importance.

Maxwell lays out eight Priority Principles to close this chapter.

1. Priorities Never "Stay Put."
   • Priorities continually shift and demand attention.
   • Well-placed priorities always sit on "the edge."
   • To keep priorities in place:
     

     • Evaluate: Every month review the 3R/s (Requirements/Return/Reward)
     • Eliminate: Ask yourself, "What am I doing that can be done by someone else?"
     • Estimate: What are the top projects I am doing this month and how long will they take?
       
2. You Cannot Overestimate the Unimportance of Practically Everything.
• "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook." - William James
3. The Good is the Enemy of the Best.
   • Most people can prioritize when faced with a right or wrong issue. The challenge comes when we are faced with two good choices.
   • How to Break the Tie Between Two Good Options:
     
     • Ask your overseer or coworkers their preference.
     • Can one of the options be handled by someone else? If so, pass it on and work on the one only you can handle.
     • Which option would be of more benefit to the customer?
     • Make your decision based on the purpose of the organization.
4. You Can't Have It All.
• Ninety-five percent of achieving is knowing what you want.
5. Too Many Priorities Paralyze Us.
• If you are overloaded with work, list the priorities on a separate sheet of paper before you take it to your boss and see what she will choose as the priorities.
• All true leaders have learned to say 'NO' to the good in order to say 'YES' to the best.
6. When Little Priorities Demand Too Much of Us, Big Problems Arise.
• "The reason most major goals are not achieved is that we spend our time doing second things first." - Robert J. McKain
• Often the little things in life us up.
7. Time Deadlines and Emergencies Force Us to Prioritize.
• We find this in Parkinson's Law: If you have only one letter to write, it will take you all day. If you have twenty letters to write, you'll get them done in one day.
• When is our most efficient time in our work? The week before vacation!
  
• Why can't we always run our lives the way we do the week before we leave the office - making decisions, cleaning off the desk, returning calls?
• Under normal conditions, we are efficient (doing things right).
• When time pressure mounts or emergencies arise, we become effective (doing the right things).
• Efficiency is the foundation for survival.
• Effectiveness is the foundation of success.
  
  
8. Too Often We Learn Too Late What is Really Important.
   
• "An infant is born with a clenched fist; a man dies with an open hand. Life has a way of prying free the things we think are so important." - Author Unknown

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc

Developing the Leader Within You - Priorities : Part 2

We will continue our leadership journey, learning new skills and refreshing old ones, with John C. Maxwell's book Developing the Leader Within You.

There are two things that are most difficult to get people to do: to think and to do things in order of importance.

Last time, we leaned about The Pareto Principle, which states 20% of your priorities will give you 80% of your production. Let's see what else Maxwell can tell us about it.

It's Not How Hard You Work; It's How Smart You Work. Working hard only helps if you are working hard on your priorities.

Organize or Agonize. The ability to juggle three or four high priority projects successfully is a must for every leader. A life in which anything goes will ultimately be a life in which nothing goes.

Prioritize Assignments:

• High Importance/High Urgency: Tackle these projects first.
• High Importance/Low Urgency: Set deadlines for completion and get these projects worked into your daily routine.
• Low Importance/High Urgency: Find quick, efficient ways to get this work done without much personal involvement. If possible, delegate it to a "can do" assistant.
• Low Importance/Low Urgency: This is busy or repetitious work, such as filing. Stack it up and do it in one-half hour segments, every week; get someone else to do it, or don't do it at all.

Chose or Lose. Every person is either an initiator or a reactor when it comes to planning. The question is not, "Will my calendar be full?" but "Who will fill my calendar?" If we are leaders of others, the question is not, "Will I see people?" but "Who will I see?" Maxwell's observation is that leaders tend to initiate and followers tend to react.

Leaders:

• Initiate
• Lead; pick up phone and make contact
• Spend time planning; anticipate problems
• Invest time with people
• Fill the calendar by priorities

Followers:

• React
• Listen; wait for phone to ring
• Spend time living day-to-day; react to problems
• Spend time with people
• Fill the calendar by requests

Evaluate or Stalemate. Decide what to do and do it; decide what not to do and don't do it. Evaluation of priorities, however, is not quite that simple.

• What is required of me?
  -A leader can give up anything except final responsibility.
  -Distinguish between what you have to do and what can be delegated to someone else.
• What gives me the greatest return?
  -The effort expended should approximate the results expected.
  -A question you must continually ask yourself is, "Am I doing what I do best and receiving a good return for the organization?"
  
• What is most rewarding?
  -Life is too short not to be fun. Our best work takes place when we enjoy it.
  -Take This Job and Love it.
  -Success in your work will be greatly increased if the 3 R's (Requirements/Return/Reward) are similar.

Next time, we will take a look at the Priority Principles.

Donald G Rosenbarger
Senior Vice President
Delta Companies Inc