Exercise: Role Priorities vs. Task Priorities
Are your task priorities in alignment with your role priorities? For this exercise, you may want to use something easy to rearrange, like Post-it Notes, or perhaps a whiteboard and markers. A spreadsheet or just plain paper can work too.
- What are your role priorities? List up to ten job responsibilities as if you’re writing a “help wanted” ad for your role. List each role priority on a separate note.
- What are your task priorities? Again, use a separate note for each task. Create as many as you need, each on a separate note.
- Lay out your role priorities horizontally on your desk or a white board, from the most important on the left to the less important on the right.
- Arrange your task priorities vertically underneath the role priority to which it pertains, with the most important at the top.
Look at the “grid” that has resulted, and see if a pattern emerges. Observe where the notes are clustered (if any). Are you spending most of your time on the most important things? Do most of your tasks line up under your most important role priorities? (toward the left end) Or are they clustered elsewhere? If your tasks are clustered toward the right end, you may be very busy, but you may not be accomplishing the things that are most important for your role. Consider whether these low-priority tasks can be handed off to someone else, automated, or eliminated entirely.
