Unit of competency:

PRACTICING CAREER
PROFESSIONALISM

Set and meet work priorities

 How to Prioritize Work and Meet

Knowing how to prioritize work affects the success of your project,

the engagement of your team, and your role as a leader. All
projects—especially large, complex projects—need clear priorities.
Easier said than done. Especially when every task appears to be
priority number #1 and screaming for your attention. You can
count on technical projects, no matter how well-planned, to involve
change orders, re-prioritization and the regular appearance of
surprises. It’s just the natural order of things.
In any responsible position in any company that you ever have, it is a given that
there will be more work to do than there are hours in the day. You could kill
yourself, trying to do everything that needs to be done, and still not manage to
complete it all. As an employee, your most important task is to determine
priorities, so that the things that need to be worked on are those that receive your
time and attention and that of your department.
Priorities have to be established based upon what is best going to meet your
company’s needs. But, that’s not always easy to determine. What often looks
like the best possible solution may not actually be so. Properly determining
priorities requires understanding the various tasks that need to be done, how
they relate to your company’s goals and how they compare to other tasks that
also appear important.
ABC Prioritizing

The most common form of prioritizing tasks is by a simple ABC method. In this
method, you make a list of all the tasks that you have to complete, and assign
them a letter code:

•A = High priority, very important to get this done

•B = Medium priority, this should get done
•C = Low priority, it would be nice if this could get done
The next step in the process is to add a due date for each of these tasks.
Most important tasks need to be completed by a particular time. If they
aren’t completed by that time, they move from just being important to being
important and urgent. Some items may not have a due date, especially things
that are priority C. However, a priority C item, that never gets dealt with may
become more important over time. For this reason, some people put a start date
on the items as well. That way, even items that may be a Priority C will have
some visibility.
To help you manage your team’s workload and hit deadlines on time, here are 6 steps to
prioritizing projects that have a lot of moving parts.

1. Collect a list of all your tasks.

Pull together everything you could possibly consider getting done in

a day. Don’t worry about the order or the number of items upfront.
This will help you frame up how and when to allocate your time
wisely.
2. Identify urgent vs. important.
The next step is to see if you have any tasks that need immediate
attention. We’re talking about work that, if not completed by the
end of the day or in the next several hours, will have serious
negative consequences (missed client deadline; missed
publication or release deadlines, etc.).
Allocate time to prioritizing your most urgent tasks earlier in the
day. If you push these to a later period, you’re at risk of being too
busy as the day runs on. Prioritizing based on urgency also
alleviates some of the stress when approaching a tight deadline
or high pressure workload demands.
3. Assess the value of your tasks.

Take a look at your important work and identify what carries the
highest value to your business and organization. As a general
practice, you want to recognize exactly which types of tasks are
critical and have top priority over the others.
Below are some helpful references to assess the value and
importance of your tasks.

•Critical priorities are time sensitive and high value. These include
tasks dealing with crises or strict client deadlines.
•High value tasks that are not time sensitive should be
considered high priorities. These are tasks that involve thinking,
planning and collaboration.
•Medium priorities can be time sensitive but not high in value.
Meetings, email communications, and project organizing can fall
into this category.
•Low priority projects and tasks are ones that are not time sensitive and
do not have high value. You can push these priorities later in the week or drop
them entirely.
4. Order tasks by estimated effort.

If you have tasks that seem to tie for priority standing, check their
estimates, and start on whichever one you think will take the most
effort to complete. Productivity experts suggest the tactic of starting
the lengthier task first. But, if you feel like you can’t focus on your
meatier projects before you finish up the shorter task, then go with
your gut and do that. It can be motivating to check a small task off
the list before diving into deeper waters.
5. Be flexible and adaptable.
Uncertainty and change are given. Know that your priorities will
change, and often when you least expect them to. So plan for the
unexpected. But—and here’s the trick—you also want to stay focused
on the tasks you’re committed to completing. While working on such
tasks, try to forecast other project requirements that will follow your
priorities so you can better prepare for what lies ahead.
6. Know when to cut.

Be realistic. You probably can’t get to everything on your list. After

you prioritize your tasks and look at your estimates, cut the
remaining tasks from your list, and focus on the priorities that you
know you must and can complete for the day. While cutting your
prioritization list down, focus on the main things that will bring you
feelings of accomplishment for the day. Then take a deep breath,
dive in, and be ready for anything.
7 Secrets for Setting a
nd Communicating Prio
rities at Work
1. Align with the strategic plan
In many larger companies, you may observe the
disappearing act of senior management as they go into
strategic planning for the following fiscal year. This
process may take several months and the output may be a
two-inch binder and a series of all-employee meetings or
webinars to launch. In smaller companies, it may simply
require a day-long off-site meeting and result in a
reasonable PowerPoint presentation to employees.
Either way, there is a thoughtful plan for growth.
Strategies may include a new product launch, a merger or
acquisition, or a new geographic target market.
Conversely, the plan may include retiring a product,
selling a division, or closing a market. Whatever the plan,
it will be executed by teams of employees who need to
understand the plan and align their efforts to it.
2. Write it down

Ideally, senior management will create a succinct

summary of the strategic plan that can be distributed to
employees. It might even be branded with a plan name or
acronym. Printing these materials and hanging them
around the office can help to communicate and reinforce
the priorities for everyone.
There is something about the act of writing things down
that gives our ideas a feeling of permanence and
importance. Be as concrete and specific as you can. As
you mentally create your own list of priorities, write them
down. Some employees like to see their list on a paper
checklist or their own small whiteboard. Keeping the list
visible helps you to focus on the right tasks.
3. Set the timeline

One driver of any priority is going to be the due date.

Managing the timeline is a critical component of project
management. It helps to hold people accountable and
organize the tasks. Is something dependent on another
task or can it run concurrently? Can you estimate the
amount of time required for the work? How many team
members are required to accomplish this part of the
project? What are the milestones leading up to the due
date?
4. Meet with stakeholders

Communications of the plan and priorities should involve

live meetings with key stakeholders. The written plan can
provide the framework for the meetings both at launch and
regular updates throughout the timeline. Senior
management meeting with managers. Managers meeting
with employees. Employees may even share priorities with
outside vendors, partners, and agencies.
5. Clarify activities and roles

Once the strategic plan has been launched and goals set,
they must be translated into actionable items for all
employees. This can be a very tactical conversation
reviewing the existing project and task lists to make sure
they are aligned with the new goals. There may be
additional brainstorming sessions to identify new
programs to meet the new goals.
6. Review and assess

After you have set and communicated priorities, take the

time to measure progress, track results, and assess the
progress. Review the milestones and timeline. Are things
on track? You may need to build in some flexibility to
pivot.
7. Timely communication

As you regularly review and assess, you also

communicate.

•Reinforce the plan and objectives.

•Report on progress to date.
•Recognize success.
•Review changes.