Master the Art of Leadership Prioritization

In the dynamic realm of leadership, making the most of your time becomes the backbone of success. With the overwhelming influx of responsibilities and the pressures of decision-making, finding a roadmap to channel your focus becomes critical. Madeleine Niebauer, CEO and founder of vChief Virtual Chief of Staff Service, with years of experience serving non-profits, startups, and education organizations, provides a lens into the art of setting personal strategic priorities. Merging her expertise with fresh insights, we delve into mastering leadership prioritization.

Setting Personal Strategic Priorities: Why It's Crucial

Niebauer pinpoints a common oversight in leadership: leaders often fixate on organizational goals but neglect their personal strategic priorities. She stresses, "This is separate and distinct from that, right? This is what is a leader focusing on with their time."

To begin, let's throw the word "overwhelm" out of the window. Leaders juggle various tasks, but without personal priorities, they're just running in circles. The idea is to focus on tasks that only you, as the leader, can do.

What's in the Bucket?

Niebauer introduces the concept of "buckets" for priority setting, and here’s our take. Divide your focus into three main categories:

Things You're Good At: Do what energizes you. It sounds simple, but you'd be amazed how often leaders stray into areas where they're just not in their element.

Tasks that Drive Impact: Whether it's revenue for a business or societal impact for a non-profit, some tasks are too important to delegate.

Your Unique Value Add: As Niebauer aptly puts it, "But I think it's important to think about where your principal can have the most impact that is different than anyone else on the team."

But don't mistake the irreplaceable for the indispensable. Niebauer observed, "Yes, I am good at that, but I am not the only one who can be good at that." Leaders often assume they're the best at something when in reality, others could excel in that role if given the chance.

Accountability and Flexibility

Once priorities are set, track them. Are you spending 70% of your time on things that are not in your priority list? Red flag! Priorities aren’t static; they’re a living, breathing part of your role. Adjust them quarterly or semi-annually as needed.

Now, what about everything else, the 'non-priorities'? Niebauer's answer is simple: Delegate. Your time is a non-renewable resource. Niebauer suggests, "Give it to your chief of staff or your assistant or someone else on your team."

The Review and The Team

The leadership team and even external stakeholders can serve as accountability partners. Use performance reviews not just as a retroactive assessment but as a proactive tool. Align your personal development areas with your priorities.

Here’s a curveball: delegate priority setting. Yes, you heard it right. As a leader, you don't have to do this alone. Your Chief of Staff or Executive Assistant can help set and track these priorities. Their job is, as Niebauer says, to "help your principal be more efficient and effective at their job and be a better leader."

The External Factors

Different industries have different organizational goals and thus different priorities for leaders. A SaaS business is not the same as a hardware tech solution. Venture-backed companies have different pressures compared to bootstrapped startups. The landscape changes, but the principle stays the same: Leaders need personal priorities, regardless of the setting.

Setting your priorities isn't a one-off event; it's a continuous process. It evolves as you do, and as your business or cause does. So set your buckets, delegate the rest, and hold yourself accountable. Time is ticking, and in leadership, there's no such thing as a timeout.

1. Delegating Isn't a Sign of Weakness: Delegating tasks is not an admission of inadequacy but a smart strategy to amplify impact. Delegation frees you to focus on mission-critical tasks that only you can perform.

2. Driving Impact Goes Beyond Staying Busy: In the whirlwind of daily activities, it's easy to confuse being busy with being effective. Making an impact requires honing in on a few vital objectives that align with your broader mission. Ditch the checklist mentality and concentrate on tasks that move the needle.

3. Your Unique Value Matters: Each leader brings a distinct set of skills and perspectives to the table. Identifying and leveraging your unique value proposition focuses your efforts and provides your team with clear direction.