Loud Thinking

Tackle New Projects After Prioritizing the Old Ones

The new year is a good time to think about trying fresh initiatives that can help move your organization forward. But if you want them to be successful, you need to manage the time involved. Don’t give your team more assignments without taking some away first. If you don’t communicate clear priorities, people won’t know what’s important and what can wait, and it won’t be long before almost everyone feels overstressed and overworked. Once you let your team know which areas are ripe for improvement, free up time to move toward that vision by consolidating, eliminating, or streamlining current activities. Then encourage short-term experiments that will help them learn how to get to the vision quicker and with greater impact.

Adapted from “Help Your Team Spend Time on the Right Things” by Ron Ashkenas and Amy McDougall.