You’re a manager with a lot on your plate. How can you prioritize tasks to stay on top of everything?

Focusing on one task at a time and avoiding multitasking (which as women, we often do) can help you get through them more efficiently and effectively. By channeling attention and energy into singular tasks, managers can enhance productivity and deliver high-quality outcomes. This disciplined approach cultivates a culture of excellence and accountability within teams.

Use time wisely. Use Eisenhower's matrix to prioritize tasks. This will help in eliminating the unimportant and not urgent tasks. Delegating the unimportant and urgent tasks. So you can pay attention to important tasks.

As a manager with numerous responsibilities, prioritize tasks by considering urgency, importance, and impact. Utilize tools like to-do lists, time blocking, and delegation to manage workload efficiently. Regularly reassess priorities to adapt to changing circumstances and maintain productivity.

The urgency versus important matrix (The Eisenhower Matrix) can be a stepping stone tool to help you decide on and prioritize tasks. I would also add an element of complexity and resourcing to it. By that I mean that once you categorised your tasks into the matrix, ask yourself too: which one of these have the highest complexity to it (and therefore will demand more from you) and what resource you have available at the moment to tackle the important and urgent tasks you have in front of you. With that you can derive a more targeted plan.

Use tools to help you evaluate tasks to help you prioritize, delegate, or discard. Evaluate your 24 hours with the help of a "24-Hour Time Log" and identify the time depleters and time enrichers. Once you have identified them, simply remove the time depleters from your life. This helps you add additional time to your day. 2. Then, sit down and analyze the tasks at hand. Put them in different categories. What's the urgency? What's the impact? What's the gain? What's the loss? Based on these answers, I prioritized the tasks further. Then, ask if you are the only one to do this task or if you could delegate. The second level of prioritization happens here. Finally, decide what can be discarded temporarily for the day. Deprioritize them.

It's important to RUTHLESSLY PRIORITIZE. If everything is important, then nothing is important. Establish your prioritization criteria first and apply everything against that criteria. Then see what can go "above the line" as doable, what is in the "maybe" category, and what is "impossible to get done" without burning yourself out.

Timeboxing has emerged as my most effective productivity tool this year. This method, originating from agile project management, involves scheduling tasks as time blocks on your calendar, creating a clear plan for what to do and when. My personal journey with timeboxing began with a two-week trial, gradually incorporating tasks from my to-do list into my calendar and adjusting as needed. This approach has enhanced my performance by reducing decision fatigue, and enabling strategic prioritization. It has also helped combat the "planning fallacy" by providing a more accurate gauge of time needed for tasks. I've gained a clearer view of my schedule, allowing for more focused work and efficient use of my day.

Planning your schedule is easier said than done, especially when you are a busy leader trying to juggle many things. Therefore, here are some things that might help you create a daily list of 8-10 tasks that you will accomplish that day and go after those. These tasks should be a maximum of 30-60 minutes long at a time so that your productivity doesn't drop. Also, factor in the number of meetings you will have daily. Try to restrict the number of meetings to 25-30% of your daily work day. Just then, you'll be able to complete the tasks you have in hand effectively.

Half the time, it really just boils down to execution! This may sound simple, but it really does often come down to just this... We are often so "busy" with meetings, and other things that we are not actually able to be really productive. So, block off some time, and (as Larry the Cable Guy says) "Get 'er DONE!!"

I try to avoid assuming that I'm on target. One way that I remain productive is to have a review mechanism. This can be as simple as a list that you can verify completion of or as complex as a full evaluation of both the execution and effectiveness. In either case, I recommend that we regularly review both our direction and progress to ensure that we are investing our energy in a productive manner.

With my previous experience as a manager of a company, prioritizing tasks is crucial for staying on top of responsibilities. Here's a method to prioritize effectively: Identify Urgent vs. Important: Distinguish between tasks that are urgent and those that are important but may not have immediate deadlines. Focus on urgent tasks first to address immediate needs, then allocate time for important tasks to prevent them from becoming urgent. Regularly Review and Adjust: Continuously review task priorities and adjust as needed based on changing circumstances or new information. Flexibility is key to effectively managing shifting priorities and staying adaptable in dynamic environments.

Let's change the narrative of "staying on top of everything." When I initially supervised a new government agency, we were short-staffed, starting the new agency with systems and staff. I had to do all of that, plus manage the workload. Burnout set in. I started to be transparent with higher leadership about the workload and the demands. I prioritized high-risk cases and tasks. With me no longer trying to manage all tasks, the higher leadership prioritized hiring. I then used my time for high-risk cases and tasks and interviewing to ensure I had a great team. I led the team from the lens that no one should try to stay on top of everything, and it provided a healthy work environment.