4 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself
Every leader I know deals with a capacity issue.
There’s plenty of demand for them and their expertise… but there’s never enough time, energy, or capacity to meet the demand.
The bad news?
If you’re a true leader worth following, this will always be something you’ll have to manage and deal with.
The good news?
While you can’t solve it, there are numerous strategies you can implement to drastically improve your ratio of “time available” to “demand.”
One of the best ways I’ve found over the last 10 years to do that is through the X Factor Tool.
The “X-Factor Tool” helps you identify and execute key priorities, ensuring you focus on what is most important to the success of the individual and team.
It helps do this in two ways:
It gives you criteria to use as filters for identifying and prioritizing your tasks.
It gives you direction on how you should handle each type of task so that it is dealt with in the most efficient and effective manner appropriate to its significance.
Take a look at the tool below:
The two criteria are “Importance” and “Urgency.” The tasks that should occupy your primary focus and immediate resources are those that are both Highly Important AND Highly Urgent.
So ask the question, am I focused here? Because you should be. It is significant for the team or individual (important) and it is due soon with a deadline approaching rapidly (urgent).
Second, check for tasks that are Highly Important, but not very Urgent.
Ask the question, "Do I have a plan for this?" Since it's not due right away, it doesn't have to be done now. But the time will come and we should put a plan in place to make sure it's taken care of since it's highly important.
Next, check for things that are Highly Urgent (a deadline is fast approaching) but it's not very Important.
At this stage, ask yourself "Can I afford not to do this?" If the answer is "Yes, I can afford not to do it," then it's likely not worth the resources or time to do it because it won't help you very much.
But if you answer "No, I can't afford to miss this" then it should be reconsidered as Highly Important AND Highly Urgent and given the appropriate focus and resources to execute it.
Finally, you have the items that are neither urgent nor important and you should ask yourself "Can anyone else do this?" or do I just not do it at all?
You might consider if it is more important for someone else's roles and responsibilities as well.
In any case, the ability to focus on important tasks that will create the most significant contribution and progress in your work is crucial for high-performing teams.
It is the "X-Factor" that separates high-performing teams from mediocre ones.
Additionally, individuals and teams that fail to prioritize and execute effectively will also undermine their culture as well when people lose confidence in the priorities of the leadership or individual.
So execute with intentional, effective action using the X-Factor tool and process.