Perspectives #5 Focusing on What Matters: The Eisenhower Matrix for People Ops

Dear All,?

Last week I had posted the following question:? “In recent times, it's becoming a trend employee retention efforts are only made after resignation ? If you disagree, post your perspective”

I observed that the majority of my colleagues also tended to agree, here are the results;?

• Agree - 97%
• Disagree - 3%

I would like to share my perspective based on the Eisenhower matrix (EM).? You might be aware that it is a task/time management tool that helps organize and prioritize tasks based on “Urgency” and “Importance”. Using the tool, we can divide our tasks into 4 boxes based on the tasks we'll do first, the tasks scheduled for later, the tasks we'll delegate, and the tasks we'll delete.?

How can this concept help us as People Ops professionals ??

Here’s a small illustration of how the Eisenhower Matrix can be used to map our activities.

As People Ops professionals we spend most of our time (thinking and execution) on the 3 Ds (Do, Delegate, Delete), items which will not yield significant benefits in the long run. In fact they will continue to create more work for us and keep us from doing what matters most.

Once we map our tasks in the appropriate quadrants, we’ll be able to identify and accomplish our most important work (and that of the organization too). For eg: I can spend time on “strategic planning” and come up with frameworks like the ones below and execute on them.

1. Identify “superstar” attributes in each team / role: What are the competencies, attributes and mindset that make a high performer in a given role? This will give us a consistent framework to benchmark performance / performers, give feedback on the same parameters over time and coach / reward accordingly.
2. Succession planning: what are the key roles in the team, how are we building a talent pipeline that ensures quick replacements without lowering quality or being a high cost alternative.
3. Clear, simple and consistent communication of key goals, progress, course corrections and rewarding teams / people for their contribution towards the goals - not just for effort. This needs to be systemized and accessible to everyone - not one time activity during all hands done by senior management.

The time to come up with the above ideas and then the time needed to work on them consistently will need to come from the other 3 quadrants. The more I do this reallocation, the more proactive will be my approach towards talent management thereby ensuring the talente retention efforts need not be at the last minute (a “Do” quadrant activity), but rather a “plan” quadrant one.

You can do a quick self assessment by mapping your time spent on a typical week into these categories and then see how best you can reallocate your time to create a real impact in managing talent and not jump in at the last moment or needlessly be busy in running programs / sessions, etc.