A question to make prioritisation easier

Welcome to another Curly Question of the Week.

One of the common complaints I hear from my clients concerns prioritisation.

"We have too much on our plate" or "We over promise and under deliver".

There are many ways to simplify prioritisation. However, one of the easiest ways is to change the question we're asking.

Frequently, when we feel overwhelmed (as humans) or overallocated (as organisations) we ask the question "What is important?" In my experience, however, there is another type of question that needs to come first.

This weeks Curly Question gives an example.

Before attempting to align behind 'what is important?', try asking 'what makes this {insert subject} so important?' If we can't agree on the latter, we'll lack the foundation we need to agree on the former.

This week's Curly Question does the same thing, except it looks through the lens of time spent in a conversation (not, in doing the work). The question's job is to explore the underlying thinking behind a discussion topic and align heads-and-hearts in terms of its priority.

In my experience, if the folks in a room cannot agree on why a topic is important, there is little chance they will be able to reach consensus regarding the topic itself.

Asking this question will not only prevent unnecessary follow-up meetings & action items, but it can save you a whole heap of frustration and cognitive effort.

Why not give it a go today and see what happens?

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Learn more at?www.katechristiansen.com.au

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