Overwhelmed, Overcommitted, and Burned out
We were growing leaps and bounds. The business had high expectations to meet internally and externally. Everyone was running as fast as we could, but most days, it wasn’t fast enough.
We said yes to more than we could handle.
We gave it our all, but we were going against so many different priorities, we didn’t as much progress as we needed to make.
Sound familiar?
Aligning around top priorities and sticking to them is a problem for most organizations at one time or another. Shiny object syndrome takes over, and we get distracted with what could be the next big thing. The research tells us that an organization should have no more than 3-5 top priorities at any time if they want to be successful. Those 3-5 priorities need to be written as SMART priorities, just like SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. Metrics need to be tied to those priorities and measured consistently to ensure your team is on track and can adjust if needed.
As we head into the next quarter, take some time as a leadership team and plan together for the following.
What 3-5 SMART priorities can your organization align around as a leadership team that aligns with your strategy and gets you closer to your overall organizational short and long-term goals?
What are the metrics you need to track to ensure you are on schedule?
How are you transparently going to track these items, so everyone is aware of their status? Tracking can be set up in a dashboard or software like Metronome Growth Systems.
How will your handle new priorities that surface during the quarter? You need to be able to define a process around this for your organization.
How are you going to celebrate your milestones and victories as your organization achieves them?
As a leader, you are responsible for setting your team up for success. An aligned team focused on a few critical priorities with a clear plan gets work done and results. Let’s get your organization the results you need this quarter and set you up for success.
Have you done your quarterly recap yet? Check out my post on asking the right questions at the end of your quarter to make sure you are ready to set your new quarterly priorities here.
