The great resignation isn’t over! November set a record.
I have a bunch of higher-level things to share, but new year energy is in the air and people are still leaving their jobs in droves. Here’s a great little tactical exercise for that person who comes to you just throwing up their hands in despair.
Trust what you know. Trust what they know. Write it down.
Have them list the things they’re trying to juggle on the left. We’re going to rate them only by how EASY they are, and how much PAYOFF they have.
You could conceivably add a third column, but I will frown at you. Try this first. I bet there will be a much longer list on the left.
(DO NOT do more than a three-point scale. C’mon. Stick with me here.)
Now ask your staff person to give the items on the left a score based on how easy and how much payoff they have. Do it fast. Maybe together. Ten minutes. Just go.
You can have the lowest number be the highest rating, but keep it simple and don’t get confused between the two! I just make the highest the highest because that keeps me straight. (See, I depicted the scoring graphically at the bottom. :-) )
OK! Now we know something! First of all, your employee thinks staffing is easiest and has the biggest payoff. Good. They should go do that.
The proof of concept and project 2 aren’t easy; but they also have big payoffs. Typically they might get pushed down because they probably have longer timelines. DON’T. If you always put off what has the biggest payoff, you can’t get anywhere. Do these things.
A political problem is highlighted: the Big Boss’ new idea is easy, but doesn’t have much payoff. Now you as the boss have to make a decision. You only have two things to work with, budget and time. You’re deciding how to allot your staff’s time. You now have some information you didn’t have before: your staff person trusted you enough to tell you their frank assessment of the PAYOFF of whatever that new idea is.
You can go back to Big Boss and explain that you’re putting more resources on projects you think will have more payoff (by “payoff” hopefully you can already connect this to whatever “payoff” your unit was supposed to deliver this quarter, or this year). Or you can do what Big Boss wants, but realize what’s happening.
This is all based on trust. We have lots to talk about regarding trust. In fact, Trust, Clarity, and Simplicity could be emblazoned on my shield. To get things moving, you trust your employee and they trust you and you’re just prioritizing, quick and dirty, and using this as a shorthand for all sorts of things you already know but might have trouble putting into words.
Thanks for being here with me! Happy Thursday!
(Do you have opinions about the days we do this? I was thinking Tuesdays and Fridays but here I am on a Thursday… Maybe by Friday breathing is more important!)