Strategic Thinking

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Key Idea

As you consider the many different tasks you want to complete today, tomorrow, or later this week, you may well find yourself compiling a dauntingly long "to do" list. Rather than tackling the various tasks at random, picking off the easiest or quickest tasks first, or plowing through them in the order in which you've listed them, take a moment to prioritize your list items based on how well they support the big picture—your company's and unit's high-level goals.

Ask yourself, "Which of these are the most critical—that is, which will generate the most important results for my group and company? Which are more peripheral—in other words, they don't have as much bearing on my group's or company's high-priority goals? If I ran this company, which of these tasks would I pay someone to work on?"

Remember that some tasks may be urgent but not important in the big scheme of things. For instance, a report may be due by the end of the day (urgent), but completing it on time may contribute little or nothing to your group's high-level goals (not important). If you give in to completing urgent but not important tasks, you risk neglecting more strategically valuable actions.

By identifying high-priority actions, you can more easily figure out how to use your time and which tasks to focus on in what sequence. You can divide your workload into parts and determine which parts should be done today, tomorrow, next week, and next month.

You can also more readily identify which less strategically important actions can be delegated to members of your team—or even be left undone.