How to Prioritize Your Work When Your Manager Doesn’t

Prioritizing work can be frustrating, especially if you work for a hands-off manager or a company that doesn’t give you clear goals. Most of us face this reality each and every day.

First, check your mindset when it comes to setting priorities. Don’t assume that prioritizing your workload is someone else’s job, and don’t choose to see yourself solely as a “do-er” or a “worker bee.” It’s easy to point blame at our managers and organizations when we experience high levels of stress or an overwhelming amount of work. Recognize that consciously setting priorities is a key pillar of success. You can start by assessing how well you’re handling the increased workload that comes with being a leader today.

Select a couple of areas to set priorities in; this can help the brain to manage information overload. Researchers have found that it’s the overload of options that paralyze us or lead to decisions that go against our best interests. Two criteria I use with clients to filter for priorities include contribution and passion. Consider your role today and answer the following questions:

• What is my highest contribution? When we reflect on contribution, we consider both the organization’s needs and how we uniquely bring to bear strengths, experience, and capabilities. The word contribution captures a sense of purpose, citizenship, and service.
• What am I passionate about? Motivation and energy fuel action, so when setting priorities, get clear on what brings you inspiration in your work today.e subsequent actions. Consider this chart:
  
•  

Quadrant I: Prioritize those areas of your job that hit this sweet-spot intersection of bringing your highest value-add and making an impact that you feel excited about. Look at the answers to the two questions above and see which projects, initiatives, and activities show up on both your high contribution and high passion lists.
Quadrant II: Tolerate those parts of the role that are important but drain your energy when you’re engaging in them. What are the possible discomforts, and what can you do about them?

• Tolerate and accept that you aren’t going to love every part of the job. For example, you may be excited about having a larger role and team but less excited about the increase in managerial processes and administration that come with it.
• Tolerate the fact that you may be on a learning curve. Perhaps a key part of the job includes something that isn’t yet a strength, such as presenting at town hall meetings or being more visible externally. Keep a growth mindset and push yourself out of the comfort zone.
• Remember that there is a tipping point in this quadrant. For example, your highest contribution in a strategy role may never offer you the passion you feel when coaching people. The quadrant could highlight that it’s time for a change (which was my situation more than 15 years ago, when no amount of prioritizing was ever going to overcome the fact I was in the wrong career).

Quadrant III: Elevate those tasks that give you a lot of energy but that others don’t see as the best use of your time. Where are the possible points of elevation?

• Elevate the value-add. Perhaps you see a hot new area, but the impact is less clear to others. Share what you are seeing out on the horizon that fuels your conviction, and explain why it’s good not only for you but also for the company.
• Elevate yourself. Be mindful of areas that you still enjoy, perhaps from a previous role or from when the company was smaller. Maybe you love to fix problems and have a bias toward action, which leads you to get involved in things your team should be handling. Hit pause before diving in.
• Ultimately, if the disconnect grows between what keeps you motivated and what your organization values, it may be time to move on.

Quadrant IV: Delegate the daily churn of low-value and low-energy-producing activities, emails, and meetings. If there’s no one to delegate to, make the case for hiring someone. You can also just say no, or eliminate those tasks altogether. The irony is, as we progress in our careers, things that were once in quadrant I now belong in quadrant IV. If people still come to you for these tasks, redirect them graciously by saying something like, “It’s so great to see you. I know how important this is. I’ve asked Kate on my team to take on those issues, and she’ll be able to get you a more direct and speedy answer.”

Approaching final authority vs going thru different layers of management

How to retain best talent

If you want to hire great people and have them stay working for you, you have to let them make a lot of decisions and you have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. Best ideas have to win, otherwise, good people won't stay.
  --Steve Jobs
It doesn't make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do. We hire smart people to tell us what to do.

-- Steve Jobs

A sign of good leader is not how many followers you have, but how many leaders you create.

When passion becomes Quiet

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-passion-becomes-quiet-sean-kelsey-1f/

Why Millennials Keep Dumping You

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-millennials-keep-dumping-you-open-letter-lisa-earle-mcleod/

Habits of happy people

1. Don't show off
2. talk less
3. learn daily
4. help those who are less fortunate
5. laugh more
6. ignore nonsense
7. no entitlement
8. 
   

High Performing Jerks = Culture Crushers!

Jerk

• an annoyingly stupid or foolish person 
• an unlikable person especially : one who is cruel, rude, or small-minded a selfish jerk

Do not tolerate brilliant jerks. The cost to teamwork is too high

We've all worked with them... people who achieve outstanding results, but leave a trail of destruction behind them in the process! While their 'results' (typically financial) might bring short-term gains, these individuals can cause a long-term world of pain culturally (and therefore, financially), which begs the question...  Ultimately, shouldn't 'how' you achieve be just as important as 'what' you achieve?

'You get what you measure'...

• Part of the problem stems from the age-old conundrum: 'you get what you measure'... If you measure (and incentivise) a set of outcomes, the potential exists for individuals to focus all of their energy on those outcomes, to the exclusion of all other factors...
• Consider the sales/production/revenue targets, or the number of outbound calls the 'hard' measures, and the strength of relationships (possibly NPS), demonstrated collaboration, and commitment to team success throughout the process, the 'soft' measures. 
• These goals and measures can be more challenging to compose - they're not as straightforward as a set of numbers - but stick to the SMART principles, and design something specific that is meaningful to your employee. Better yet, use the soft measures as a gate-opener to the hard measures:

"if you don't play nice, you won't be rewarded financially, regardless of your sales figures"

Perhaps your employee is tasked with designing a new system/process, and implementing it across the business. The end product might be satisfactory, even exemplary, but if they don't engage key stakeholders appropriately, don't influence end-users to embrace the change, or they alienate their own team members by holding tightly onto every detail, then they have failed on the 'how'.

The 'Protected Species'...

• The employee who has connections in all the right places (generally Senior Management, or the Board), and continues on their destructive path, virtually untouchable. 
• The impact here is twofold: 
• first, you have the employees in their immediate vicinity, who become disgruntled and disengaged by the way they behave - perhaps you lose some top talent, who just aren't prepared to sit around in that environment; 
• second, you validate the behaviour and reinforce it as part of your culture. The longer poor behaviour has been tolerated, the more embedded it has become in the culture, and the more difficult it is to eliminate - and the more top talent you will continue to haemorrhage. 

Remember, regardless of an individual's contribution, if you overlook the 'how' and celebrate only the 'what', you are just perpetuating an unhealthy cycle!

Ultimately though, it is up to those who occupy leadership roles within an organisation to set the tone of the culture; to define what is 'above and/or below the line'. This requires leaders to display genuine leadership qualities, and to make it crystal clear (by example, and by follow-through as required) that:

"genuine collaboration and accountability for our own actions are non-negotiable if you plan on succeeding in this place".

Get this right, and you will set yourself up with a culture that delivers far greater and more consistent long term success than the short term spikes delivered by a Jerk!
What do you think?
Is 'how' you achieve just as important as 'what' you achieve?
Do leaders typically have the courage to call people on their behaviours?

This is how successful people think differently

Successful people come from all walks of life, yet they all have one thing in common: where others see impenetrable barriers, they see challenges to embrace and obstacles to overcome.

Their confidence in the face of hardship is driven by their ability to let go of the negativity that holds so many otherwise sensible people back.

Obstacles do not block the path; they are the path.

This perspective helps successful people to think differently to everyone else, which is important, because if you think like everyone else, no matter how smart or experienced you are, you’ll hit the same ceiling. By thinking outside the box and going against the grain, successful people rise above their limitations.

We all know how important it is to approach problems with radical optimism and creativity, but this is easier said than done. In a study conducted at Adobe, 96% of employees identified creativity as essential to their success, both in terms of their income and the value they bring to the world. What’s more, 78% wished they were capable of thinking differently, believing that they would progress through their careers more quickly if they did.

Too often we attribute creative and “different” thinking to natural, innate characteristics that belong only to the lucky. The truth is that you can study how ridiculously successful people think and incorporate their approach into your repertoire.

They’re confident. Successful people confidently act on their ideas, because they know that a failed idea is not a reflection of their ability; instead, they see it as a wonderful learning opportunity.

They’re composed. Ultra-successful people are composed, because they constantly monitor their emotions and understand them and they use this knowledge in the moment to react with self-control to challenging situations. When things go downhill, they are persistently calm and frustratingly content (frustrating to those who aren’t, at least). They know that no matter how good or bad things get, everything changes with time. All they can do is to adapt and adjust to stay happy and in control.

They’re honest. Super-successful people trust that honesty and integrity, though painful at times, always work out for the best in the long run. They know that honesty allows for genuine connections with people and that lying always comes back to bite you in the end. In fact, a Notre Dame study showed that people who often lied experienced more mental health problems than their more honest counterparts.

They seek out small victories. Successful people like to challenge themselves and to compete, even when their efforts yield only small victories. Small victories build new androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. When you achieve a series of small victories, the boost in your confidence can last for months.

They’re always learning. Super-successful people often know more than others do, because they’re constantly trying to learn. They vow to constantly grow, and they fill every spare moment with self-education. They don’t do this because it’s “the right thing to do”; they do it because it’s their passion. They’re always looking for opportunities to improve and new things to learn about themselves and the world around them. Instead of succumbing to their fear of looking stupid, truly exceptional people just ask the questions on their mind, because they would rather learn something new than appear smart.

They expose themselves to a variety of people. There’s no easier way to learn to think differently than spending time with someone whose strengths are your weaknesses or whose ideas are radically different from your own. This exposure sparks new ideas and makes you well rounded. This is why we see so many great companies with co-founders who stand in stark contrast to each other. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak from Apple were a prime example. Neither could have succeeded without the other.

They keep an open mind. Exposing yourself to a variety of people is useless if you spend that time disagreeing with them and comforting yourself with your own opinions. Successful people recognize that every perspective provides an opportunity for growth. You need to practice empathy by putting yourself in the other person’s shoes so that you can understand how their perspective makes sense (at least, to them). A great way to keep an open mind is to try to glean at least one interesting or useful thing from every conversation you have.

They’re fearless. Fear is nothing more than a lingering emotion that’s fueled by your imagination. Danger is real. Danger is the uncomfortable rush of adrenaline you get when you almost step in front of a bus; fear is a choice. Exceptional people know this better than anyone does, so they flip fear on its head. Instead of letting fear take over, they’re addicted to the euphoric feeling they get from conquering their fears.

They turn tedious tasks into games. Every job entails some degree of tedium. For most people, tedium leads to sloppy, rushed work. Only the most successful people find ways to make the tedious interesting. By turning tedious work into a game, they challenge themselves and produce high-quality work, making things interesting in the process.

They dream big but remain grounded. Successful people reach for the seemingly impossible, but they do so in a way that is actionable and realistic. While you may not know exactly how you’re going to achieve your dream, you need to make progress no matter how small the steps. For example, Elon Musk’s goal at SpacEx is to “Occupy Mars.” While this is a big dream, Musk keeps it realistic by engaging in regular steps that, some day, may get him there. SpacEx just landed a rocket upright on a boat in the ocean for the first time ever. It’s a far cry from colonizing Mars, but it’s an essential step in the process.

Bringing It All Together

The above behaviors can make any of us more successful if we use them every day. Give them a try, and see where they take you.