Unlocking the Door to the Doughnut Shop

The ideas for my Monday Messages to the Dillon team often originate from questions I get asked the previous week. Usually they are the questions that catch me off guard. Not off guard in a bad way, but questions that I really need to consider and think through before I answer.

The week before last that question was: "How did your approach to setting priorities change as you took on more senior roles?"??

After spending a fair amount of time thinking about that question, here's where I landed ...?It didn’t. Although the specific things I spend my time doing have definitely changed, my approach to prioritizing has not.?

Fundamental to how I set my priorities is the realization that the time I spend doing my job is not more important than the time spent by anyone else in the company doing theirs. What is expected from my time is different, but it isn't more important. My role (or any role for that matter) is not more important than the business itself.?

The most important priority is the one that enables others to do their job.

Your most important priority is the one that enables others to do their job. This is especially critical when you are uniquely skilled to complete an activity, or are the only one who can enable the work, process, deliverable etc. of someone else.?Consider: if the activity in question isn’t high on your priority list, will the team suffer? If the answer is yes but you think the activity isn’t the best use of your time, or distracts from your other priorities, then you need to ensure someone else gains the required skills or knowledge to complete that activity in your place.??

Doughnuts anyone?

For some reason a doughnut shop analogy jumped to mind to help explain my view on priority setting and career progression. Hopefully it helps:

Let’s pretend I went to culinary school and learned how to bake. Early in my career, I start working in a doughnut shop and am trained how to make their specific doughnuts. I spend my time making doughnuts and get pretty good at it. Soon I start teaching the next newbie how to make the doughnuts. Doing a good job of that and showing initiative, I am given the responsibility of keeping an eye on the inventory of doughnut ingredients and ordering supplies. I start to learn more about how to run a doughnut shop. I get trained on cash and begin selling the doughnuts. I meet customers, learn which doughnut flavours are the most popular and what other flavours customers might want to purchase, and begin making suggestions to management about the menu. Eventually, I become a shift manager—responsible for opening the shop in the morning, making sure the things that need to happen during my shift happen, and dealing with any unexpected stuff that comes up. Next, I am given an opportunity to become a shareholder in the doughnut shop and I take it. I then become general manager and suddenly I am responsible for the whole operation—budgeting, hiring, advertising, etc. My responsibilities have changed dramatically since I first began working at the doughnut shop. But as I gained more experience and responsibility, the fundamental business didn't change, only my role.

What is your order of operations?

When I became a cashier in my imaginary doughnut shop, the supplies still needed to be ordered. When I became a shift manager, the doughnuts still needed to be made. When I became general manager, the shop still needed to open on time. None of these things changed as I got promoted. Each responsibility just passed to someone else. And regardless of the fact that it is no longer my role, if for any reason the doughnut shop doesn’t open on time... that now becomes my #1 priority. Even if it means I need to drop everything I’m doing and open the shop myself. It can’t wait until I have a free slot in my schedule. Working on a new doughnut shop ad or interviewing a potential new cashier needs to wait if the person who was supposed to open the shop doesn’t show up or if we've run out of flour.

In the same way, as a project manager I need to ensure my team is fully prepared to start a field program on a Monday morning before I wrap up a report on a completed project and head home on a Friday. I don’t put off the team until Monday. I need to prioritize the aspect of my job that enables others to do their job. Just as the doughnut shop needs to be opened... they gotta make the doughnuts.?

My approach to setting priorities didn't change with more senior roles. My senior roles were a product of having a consistent approach to setting my priorities—priorities that were informed (or set) by a knowledge of how the business works and based on the needs of the business.?Knowing the fundamental needs of the business, and acting on the "order of operations" to keep the business running, is why I ended up with more opportunity and responsibility.

So, my approach hasn't changed. I just didn't really realize it until I was asked the question.??

?Sean Hanlon is CEO of?Dillon Consulting, a proudly Canadian, employee-owned professional consulting firm specializing in planning, engineering, environmental science and management.?Dillon Consulting?partners with clients to provide committed, collaborative and inventive solutions to complex, multi-faceted projects.