How to prioritise with people in mind

The ability for leaders to prioritise is a key skill in today’s business world that Executives need to master, in which to avoid creating a culture of change fatigue. 

Some organisations discuss the need for change resilience, when one of the contributing factors to change fatigue is already within their control through consistent prioritisation practices.

The constant changes of direction due to poor planning, or misalignment of local priorities to strategic priorities can lead staff to feel disenfranchised with the organisations leaders.

So why should leaders keep their people in mind when prioritising work priorities to strategic priorities?

Decision making in the prioritisation process can adversely effect staff morale. It can cause conflict and confusion affecting employee engagement and productivity. Even for the best performers in an organisation it is difficult to feel a sense of loyalty when it seems that the decision makers don't understand the people impacts of their decisions.

When prioritisation is done well, with people impacts considered the organisation will perform better through improved employee engagement and alignment. Top performers can innovate and improve continuously at a faster pace when prioritisation is clear. If your organisation works in an Agile way you will want to retain top performers to allow for effective teaming to take place.

Innovation flourishes and is enabled as there aren't constant 'changes in direction' leaving staff uncertain whether to commit to innovate or not, for fear of having the rug pulled out from under them.

Pacing can be better controlled. This can reduce the burn out factor among staff which results in loss of top performers. If a business is in 'start up' phase the pace can be fast and furious. However as each milestone is reached, the manic way of working without as much structure has to shift gear and a strong foundation has to be created to sustain any sense of pace. Floor walking to check the pulse of the organisation by the Executive, watching hours worked or overworked, can inform the decision makers as to whether they are pacing well or too fast. 

Deciding on your program priorities must include a people based change lens. 

What many Executives forget or fail to understand is that projects have PEOPLE who work on them. Often times, the same people.

This includes contingent staff (contractors) who always rely on employees who are subject matter experts (SME’s) who provide the corporate knowledge and understanding so anything that is delivered is fit for purpose. For those individuals they are often engaged time and time again AND they also have their current role. Out of good will they will participate but then after a time they become resentful of always having to be included, especially if they are needing to participate in multiple projects. It becomes stressful, overwhelming and simply too much.

If it continues they soon get over it and often they leave, taking all of that corporate knowledge with them. Making sure that a resourcing lens is placed over the program of work allows proactive management of resourcing and ensuring engagements are paced well for critical subject matter experts.

Prioritisation also allows staff to feel successful.This is often overlooked.  Giving key staff time to do a good job. If there are too many things happening at once, staff will feel that they don't get given enough time to do anything well. Before once change has come through another is introduced.

There are definite standards that are set by individuals who have a pride in what they do.  Constant changing of priorities loses time on projects, as switching means changing the focus, regrouping again and having to generate momentum on something new - often with a shorter lead time. By using the 80/20 rule (sticking to 80% of your well considered priorities with 20% which may vary) you will achieve greater long term success and allow your people to succeed.

So if you are the decision maker, there are 5 people based prioritisation questions we recommend you ask at the next prioritisation discussion: 

 These are just conversation starters. In future you may want to introduce them on your project briefs or in your status reports to systemically put a people based lens on your prioritisation activities and into your Governance forums on your program of work.