Priorities OR Priority?

How many priorities to do have?  I bet you have a LONG list of them.  Most people do.  Grow my business by $1M, spend more time with my wife, spend more time with my kids, learn to play guitar, go on safari in Africa, etc, etc, etc.  No try to focus on getting all of them done. It’s kind of like watching a kindergarten class line up to be first for the ice cream truck… pure chaos!  No wonder many people have problems getting things done.  Too many tasks vying for first place.

The funny thing about priorities is, until the 20th Century, that word never even existed!  Priority was first used in the English language in the 1400s; and for 500 years it was only used in a singular form.  It’s from the latin word prioritas meaning first in rank, order or dignity.  There was no plural form of the word in latin.  It was not until the 1900s that the word was adapted into a plural form to encompass the way we use the word today.

Maybe we should all consider going back in time for a little focus.  What is YOUR PRIORITY?

“One-half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it.” - Sidney Howard

“Qui totum vult totum perdit. (He who wants everything loses everything.)” – attributed to Seneca

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Don't Trip on Your Ego.

Good leaders “walk-the-talk” and model the expected behavior and traits we ask of the people we lead.  To successfully lead others, we first have to manage ourselves.  Time management, respectful behavior, meeting commitments, integrity, work ethic, etc.  Today, let’s talk about ego.

It takes a team to succeed.  A big factor in that, other than communication, is keeping everyone’s egos in check.  As a team we succeed or fail together.  A strong ego dominating the team and making everything about that person demoralizes everyone, discourages innovation and creativity, and kills productivity.  Does your ego play a role in your leadership style?

• Do you find it hard to delegate responsibility?

• Do you implement others’ suggestions, or is your knee-jerk impulse to shoot them down?

• When others have a good idea, do you give them credit for it?

• Do you tend to micromanage projects?

• Do you facilitate every meeting?

• Is it all about you?

If you answered yes to any of these, perhaps it’s time for an ego check.  Here are some ideas:

• Pick a project languishing on your to-do list and hand it off to someone else, AND LET THEM RUN WITH IT ON THEIR OWN. Getting it done, even imperfectly, beats not getting it done at all.

• Start soliciting others’ suggestions and then implement some even if you privately think they're silly. As long as they don't do any harm, the benefits you'll reap are worth it.

• Instead of leading every meeting ask others to take turns facilitating. You might be surprised by what you learn.

Sure, it's nice to be the Top Dog, the Big Kahuna, the Grand Poohbah, etc. of your domain, but in the end that's not what solid leadership is about, and it’s not scaleable.  What message are you sending to your team? Are you on an ego trip?

“More the Knowledge, Lesser the Ego; Lesser the Knowledge, More the Ego.”  – Albert Einstein

“Ego is a social fiction for which one person at a time gets all the blame.” – Robert Anton Wilson

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Vote 1st; Talk Later.

Most people think that group brainstorming is a creative process.  Actually it reduces innovation and creativity.  People make better decisions when allowed to express their views before they have had a chance to listen to anybody else.  Countless studies have shown that once discussion begins, the people who speak first tend to persuade others of their position, even when their positions are wrong.  

Teams make better decisions when you have them vote first, then have them discussion (a shout out for my fans of Robert’s Rules of Order), rather than decide by consensus.  Think back to your high school and college days… did you get into more trouble on your own?  Or when you were with a group of your “best buds”?  Does the thought “what was I thinking??!?!?” sound familiar?

Team sessions have an important place, though.  They excel at vetting and improving on ideas.  Being able to play off of others’ thoughts is powerful (and fun)!  Have people brainstorm on their own first. Then post all the ideas and gather the team to discuss, vet and improve on the them.

“None of us is as dumb as all of us.” - Anon

“The best way to have good ideas, is to have lots of ideas.” - Linus Pauling

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