I was working with a client in the South of France last week when the topic of prioritization came up again.

There is plenty of stuff around on prioritization per se, the most used model we come across is the Urgent and important grid, which helps. On our matrix skills training we use a model called “drive, drag, drone” to aid prioritization. In a matrix, competing, sometimes conflicting objectives can make prioritization even more challenging.

What is different about prioritization in the complex organizations we work in is that - even when you only select the important things - there still may not be time to do them all!

This can lead to a form of guilt about prioritization - “I have cut out a lot of unnecessary work, focused on what is important and I still can’t do it all! I must be a poor performer.” This is likely to get worse as layoffs and increased business pressure can lead to increased workload for the survivors.

So sometimes prioritization is not enough, we also have to have barriers, to decide how much is enough and to say no when it gets to be too much.

Apr 06 2009