What are the best ways to prioritize tasks and goals with a new team?

In the realm of entrepreneurship, clarity of vision and mission is paramount. It's the foundation upon which all tasks and goals are built. Your vision and mission not only guide your actions but also convey your purpose to your team and stakeholders. Utilize tools like vision and mission statements, value proposition canvases, or lean canvases to crystallize your objectives. A shared vision is the first step in aligning your team and driving productivity.

With newly formed teams and especially under compressed time, I have experienced best results when the “bottom line is defined up top”. Breaking down tasks & sub-tasks become easier after this, and when the team has experience & tenacity, the responsibilities & delegation of the same, become simpler (even automatic in some cases). This is when a project tree or process flow can charted to give good clarity of roles & goals. I have seen some great ideas come up at this stage which streamlines the process even more.

Prioritize clarity by defining your vision and mission—foundational elements steering your actions towards purpose. These principles not only serve as guiding lights for your team but also communicate your value proposition effectively.

Very helpful for me has been the tools available for clearing up your vision, Miro I’ve returned to as it’s helped to broaden my vision or the tasks I want accomplished. Your vision and mission guides your team on tasks they should or shouldn’t be involved in and helps everyone see collaborative or overlapping areas within departments or functions

The way I've experienced this, the team leader must sit together with all the team members to get the buy-in on the vision and mission, may it be a strategic discussion or a mundane routine activity. This is called "Mashwara" or "Advice" in the Entrepreneurial dictionary. The more team members agree on any given point, the more chances are there that they will work hard to achieve the given objectives.

After establishing your vision and mission, the next step is breaking them into specific, time-bound objectives. These objectives, when SMARTly defined, become the roadmap for your team's efforts. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals aligned with your vision, mission, values, and competitive advantages are the building blocks of a focused and productive team. They provide clear direction, ensuring everyone knows what needs to be achieved and by when.

Transform your expansive vision and mission into achievable milestones by breaking them into smaller, time-bound objectives. These micro-goals, whether for a quarter, a year, or a specific project, act as stepping stones towards your overarching mission.

In strategy building, both forecasting and backcasting offer distinct approaches: In strategy building: Forecasting: Sets objectives based on current trends and data, allowing agility in response to market dynamics. Objectives align with SMART criteria, reflecting real-time insights. Backcasting: Begins with a long-term vision, working backward to create objectives. This ensures deep alignment with the vision and mission, focusing on how current actions lead to the desired future. Objectives are visionary yet adhere to SMART criteria, emphasizing core values and long-term goals.

Strategic objectives are your game plan. They take the lofty ideals of your vision and mission and mold them into actionable, measurable targets. They're your milestones on the road to realizing your bigger picture. Embrace the SMART framework to craft objectives that are not just aspirational, but grounded in reality and aligned with your core ethos. It’s about orchestrating a strategy that resonates with your brand’s narrative while navigating the competitive landscape effectively. Your strategic objectives are the threads that weave the fabric of your brand’s unfolding story.

There is a concept called "Essential Intent" by one of my my favorite authors Greg McKeown [Essentialism & Effortless]. His mission is the "discipline pursuit of less". The Essential Intent Formula: VERB - what is it you do. POPULATION - who is the group of people you serve [or want to serve]. OUTCOME - what is the result you are trying to produce. DATE - when do you want to accomplish this result by. I believe the biggest component of building trust is being upfront and ruthlessly honest about your goals and/or intentions. Own them and allow that individual to choose to follow/support you or not. Hope this helps.

Numerous frameworks, like the Eisenhower matrix, MoSCoW method, RICE score, or the OKR model, can guide your choices. The choice of framework depends on your context, preferences, and criteria, but shared factors like urgency, importance, impact, effort, and risk should always inform your prioritization strategy. Using a framework ensures that your team focuses on what matters most, driving towards your larger mission and vision.

Once armed with strategic objectives, propel them into action by skillfully prioritizing tasks and goals. The key lies in selecting a framework tailored to your context and preferences.

I find that using a Kanban board is an effective framework for task prioritization within my team. It allows us to clearly see who is working on what and identify any tasks that may be falling behind. By visualizing the process, we can quickly address bottlenecks and ensure a smooth flow of work. If someone notices that a specific task is lagging, others can step in temporarily to help resolve the issue and keep things moving. To prioritize, color code the cards to indicate the priority level. This way the high-priority tasks will be easy to distinguish. Kanban boards can be physical or digital. Some great digital tools are Trello and Asana. This approach enhances efficiency, productivity, and team collaboration.

Tech platforms can be really useful in managing team tasks, priorities and allowing for strong collaboration and idea sharing. Many of the big name brands have task management platforms but equally I find iPhone notes excellent for keeping track of tasks - and you can share the note with others.

Harnessing a framework like the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) can be transformative. It bridges the gap between strategy and execution. Your Objectives are the lofty ambitions, and the Key Results are the measurable steps to get there. Best practices for OKR implementation: Alignment: Ensure every objective aligns with your vision, mission, and strategic goals. It's about having a clear line of sight from every task to the big picture. Measurable: Make your key results quantifiable. It’s not about vague ambitions, but clear, measurable outcomes. Regular Check-ins: Keep the pulse on progress with regular reviews. It’s about fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

When assigning tasks and goals, consider your team's skills, interests, availability, and workload. Clear expectations, deadlines, and deliverables are crucial. Tools like the RACI matrix, responsibility assignment matrix, or the accountability ladder help define roles and responsibilities. Successful task delegation empowers your team, ensuring everyone knows what's expected and their role in achieving strategic objectives.

To ensure that tasks and goals are accomplished effectively, assigning roles and responsibilities to your team is crucial. Keep their passions and interests in mind. You can motivate employees and improve performance by assigning tasks that match their interests whenever possible. Each task or goal should be clearly defined in terms of its objectives and expected outcomes. Your team should be informed of their assigned roles and responsibilities through a meeting or discussion. Make sure goals and tasks are being tracked regularly. Team management in Business Administration and Entrepreneurship relies heavily on assigning roles and responsibilities effectively. As a result, it promotes accountability, productivity.

Having a deep understanding of your team's capabilities is what makes a great manager great. Knowing how to position the members of your team correctly on a given task to maximize their effectiveness is a massively important skill. Notably though, its not some innate quality that you are either born with or you lack, its something you can learn and get better at over time. The best managers continue to get better at this for the entirety of their careers. Start with tons of communication, and work into educated experimentation. Allow your team room to grow, and get as much feedback as you can.

Delegation is where strategy meets execution. It's about placing the right pieces on the chessboard. Tools like the RACI matrix aren't just organizational charts, but clarity capsules ensuring everyone knows their part in the big picture. Best Practices: Skill-Match: Assign tasks based on team members' strengths and interests, fueling not just productivity but engagement. Clear Expectations: Set clear deadlines, deliverables, and expectations. It's about eliminating guesswork and fostering accountability. The right delegation coupled with clarity sets the stage for a harmonized effort towards achieving the strategic objectives, ensuring each move is deliberate and aligned with the end goal.

When you're scaling, it's not just about hustling; it's about understanding your team's DNA. Every individual has unique talents and passions that can be channeled for collective growth. Stop trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Instead, start by having real, raw conversations with your team. Understand where their passion lies, what drives them, and where they see themselves. Aligning someone's role with their passion is a game-changer! Remember, titles mean nothing if there's no substance behind them. So, forget traditional roles. Create roles that cater to individual strengths, and watch them own it. Empower them. Give them the freedom to innovate within their domains. And always, always, let them know they're heard.

Utilize metrics and indicators to measure performance and impact, gathering insights from your team, customers, and stakeholders. Tools like the balanced scorecard, dashboard, feedback loop, or retrospectives are instrumental in this process. Regular progress tracking allows you to adapt, learn, and fine-tune your strategies as you work towards your mission. It's the compass that keeps you on course to success.

Tracking and reviewing is your reality check. It’s about gauging the distance between plans and execution. Tools like balanced scorecards or dashboards are mirrors reflecting the impact of every effort. Best Practices: Metrics: Pick metrics that matter, those that give a real pulse of progress and impact. Feedback Loops: Cultivate a culture of feedback, it’s the soil where learning and improvement grow. With regular check-ins and an open feedback culture, you turn every hurdle into a stepping stone, continually refining your stride towards your strategic objectives.

Every good business has goals. And even the best startups have revenue targets. It is critical to map your input to these goals and regularly checkin to see if you are on pace. If not you need to ask why and course correct.

Performance monitoring isn't just about tracking the current project status against the plan; it's also a great opportunity to collect project-related information, like feedback and comments. Depending on the project type, you may want to schedule daily stand-up meetings, monthly, and quarterly reviews to gauge your progress toward milestones. And don't forget to celebrate even small achievements with the team.

I've found it helpful to track progress along various time horizons: 1. Bi-weekly: you want to make sure everyone on the team is carrying their weight. 2. Bi-annually: performance check-ins / career heck-ins are helpful here. 3. Annually: did you meet your company goals? Were they the right goals?

To effectively prioritize tasks and goals with a new team, consider implementing recurring check-ins or communication, and utilize project management tools. This approach ensures flexibility and responsiveness to evolving circumstances while promoting continuous improvement and adaptation using methods like hypothesis testing and the continuous improvement cycle.

Ensure that you are regularly reviewing your tasks, goals, and strategic objectives. Your business cycle may dictate whether this is done weekly, monthly, or quarterly. Engage team members, customers, and stakeholders in the feedback process. Customer feedback can be used to identify areas for improvement or new opportunities. Consider both your successes and failures when analyzing your performance. Utilize the lessons learned from each outcome to guide future endeavors.

This could be a great place to have a steering committee in place for in order to allow smooth checks to make sure the corporation is still within its main paths and core values as projects increase, ambitions grow and many other factors enter the playing field.

Ensure that the team understands the impact of their work and feels a sense of ownership in achieving shared objectives, and promote transparency by sharing the rationale behind priority decisions and provide context on how each task contributes to the broader goals.

Remember to have fun and enjoy what you are doing as well as making it genuinely clear that your passion is within what you are creating as an entrepreneur. You and your corporation are one; it is called an "entity" after-all; both of which should be inspirations to the new team(s) you lead.

Entrepreneurship is a journey, and like any journey, the path can sometimes be unpredictable. When you're working with a new team, the dynamics of personalities, passions, and individual aspirations play a crucial role. Before diving deep into task prioritization, take time to understand your team at a personal level. Organize team-building activities, one-on-one sessions, or simply casual coffee breaks to learn about their strengths, passions, and what drives them. When team members feel understood and valued, they're more likely to invest emotionally and intellectually in the tasks. Establish a culture of openness. Encourage your team to voice out their thoughts, especially when they feel a task should be prioritized differently.