How to Prioritize?

When you engage in a prioritization exercise, does it help clarify what’s necessary? Do you feel frustrated when everything appears to be a priority? Prioritization can be challenging, but it’s a crucial element of your strategic plan.

It’s important to recognize that setting priorities is not a one-time task within a strategic plan, a project, or even when planning a vacation. As you review your strategic plan, you may not foresee where conflicting interests might emerge, but you can be confident that they will arise from time to time. When these conflicts do occur, it becomes essential to prioritize effectively.

Types of Decisions

Depending on the specifics of your strategic plan, you will employ various methods for establishing priorities and addressing issues. You might need to make autocratic decisions, where your directives are followed without room for questions or challenges. Alternatively, you could opt for group decision-making or a consultative approach.

Regardless of the method you choose, there are eight essential elements that can assist you in defining problems and creating a framework for decision-making. Keep in mind that the most critical step is to clearly articulate the problem at hand.

Rephrase the Problem

Sometimes, our perceptions differ from those of others. For instance, when a manager notices a drop in production and instructs the team to work harder, he may not see significant results. This approach focuses on his needs rather than engaging the team. Instead, he could reframe the issue by asking team members what connects them to their work. By showing genuine interest and inquiring about ways to make their jobs easier or improve efficiency, he can engage employees, uncover the reasons behind the production decline, and collaboratively develop solutions, rather than simply demanding increased productivity.

If you struggle with phrasing, consider using a dictionary and thesaurus (or their online equivalents) to refine your problem statement. Experiment by changing words and phrases multiple times. If wordplay isn’t your strong suit or you find it challenging, don’t hesitate to seek assistance from a colleague or friend.

For example, if the problem is framed as “Our sales are decreasing,” try replacing words to clarify the situation:

• “Our market share is declining.”
• “Our new sales figures are consistent with last year.”
• “Repeat sales have dropped by 16% compared to last year.”
• “Our outgoing sales call volume has risen by 18%.”
• “The number of incoming complaint calls has increased by 22%.”

Through this rephrasing exercise, you can pinpoint that the core issue isn’t a lack of effort or training among the sales team. Instead, it appears that repeat sales are down, which correlates with a rise in complaints. Investigating the reasons behind these trends will be your next step.

Expose and Challenge Assumptions

We tend to make assumptions, as it’s part of human nature. Unfortunately, these assumptions can hinder our ability to formulate an accurate problem statement.

For example, when you arrive at a gas station, you might expect to find options for regular, mid-grade, or premium gasoline. However, if you pull into a rural station that only offers regular fuel for a car that typically requires premium, you face the dilemma of whether you have enough fuel to reach the next station.

When defining your problem, create a list of assumptions, including the more obvious ones. This exercise can help clarify the issue at hand. Then, evaluate each assumption to determine if any are incorrect or if they were self-imposed.

A common assumption might be, “We’ve never done it that way, so we can’t consider it for the future.”

Use Facts

Sometimes we may notice a problem and feel eager to jump in and resolve it. However, since we are also accountable for factors such as time and budget, it’s crucial to examine the details and understand the true nature of the problem. If an issue is too vague, it may not even warrant a solution. Gather the necessary data to clearly define the problem. If possible, create visual aids like charts or graphs to illustrate your points. Ask questions and collect information that accurately depicts the situation, allowing you to be specific.

For example, saying “You’re always late” is a vague problem statement, whereas “You’ve been late three days in a row” is much more precise. With straightforward issues like this, identifying the problem and addressing it directly often leads to a resolution. Most individuals will not contest a supervisor once they recognize that their repeated lateness has been acknowledged.

Grow Your Thinking

Problems are often related to other problems. They can be a small element of a larger issue, so this element of problem definition includes considering the problem as part of something larger. To do this, you make the problem more general.

Ask questions such as

• “What’s this connected to?”
• “What is this an example of?”
• “Where have we seen this before?”

Leveraging the word play we used earlier, replace specific words with more general ones. “Budget” becomes “finances,” “office desk” becomes “furniture,” “mouse” becomes “pest.”

Shrink Your Environment Temporarily

Sometimes we may notice a problem and feel eager to jump in and resolve it. However, since we are also accountable for factors such as time and budget, it’s crucial to examine the details and understand the true nature of the problem. If an issue is too vague, it may not even warrant a solution. Gather the necessary data to clearly define the problem. If possible, create visual aids like charts or graphs to illustrate your points. Ask questions and collect information that accurately depicts the situation, allowing you to be specific.

For example, saying “You’re always late” is a vague problem statement, whereas “You’ve been late three days in a row” is much more precise. With straightforward issues like this, identifying the problem and addressing it directly often leads to a resolution. Most individuals will not contest a supervisor once they recognize that their repeated lateness has been acknowledged.

Practice Multiple Perspectives

Although the problem may be very clear from where you are looking right now, that may not be the case from everyone else’s perspective. If our sales are decreasing, we may think it’s because our sales team is not being effective, but maybe our competition has dropped their price and added a feature to their product that makes them more appealing than we are.

Rewrite the problem from several different perspectives. How does your customer look at this problem? What about your sales team? Your courier? Add perspectives for people in different roles. How would your spouse see this? A former teacher? A local business association? The people at the café down the street?

Turn it Upside Down

A powerful way to define your problem is to approach it from the opposite direction. If you’re aiming to increase something, identify what decreases as a result. Examine the factors that lead to declining sales, fewer product sales, or more losses in games. For instance, if you believe sending an employee to a conference is too costly, think about the benefits gained from their attendance.

Shift your perspective to explore angles you haven’t considered yet and reflect on the potential consequences. For example, what if you developed a simplified product that lacks some features of the more elaborate options offered by your competitors?

Frame the Problem Purposely and Positively

This idea draws from goal-setting principles. Our minds tend to focus on positive and stimulating concepts. An even more effective approach is to reframe your perception of the problem into a positive and engaging question. Our subconscious is naturally inclined to explore questions and will begin working on them right away, even if we’re not consciously aware of it.

For example, instead of framing the issue as, “We need our employees to stop smoking because it’s increasing our benefit plan costs,” consider rephrasing it to, “How can we encourage our employees to lead long, healthy lives and find happiness?”

Summary

When you can describe the problem clearly, the solution often presents itself. However, failure to identify the problem properly can send you off fixing things that may not ever resolve the actual problem. Don’t create a situation where you are looking at the same problem three months from now; use these eight essential elements in your favor.