Planning and Prioritising
Efficiency can be defined as doing things right and effectiveness as doing the right things. A coach’s ability to plan and organise their work in advance, so they are always working on their highest value tasks determines their success as much as any other factor.
The process of setting priorities begins with a pad of paper and a pen or a computer screen and keyboard. The first step is to list all the tasks that need to be accomplished. Although there is rarely enough time to do everything, there is always enough time to do the most important things, and to stay with them until they are done right. The ABCDE model requires the coach to allocate a weighting to each task on the list, according to its importance.
The ABCDE Model for Setting Priorities
The ABCDE Model
By using the A-B-C-D-E method, it is much easier to sort out what is important and unimportant. This then enables the coach to focus their time and attention on those items on the list that are most essential.
The ABC Method and MSC Model
The ABC and MSC Model for Prioritisation
In addition to using these tools to prioritise tasks on paper and electronic lists, there are many software tools that also incorporate the ABC Model, including several apps.
Covey’s Quadrants
Stephen Covey describes a high-level prioritisation scheme in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. In this scheme, tasks are categorised into four quadrants. This is also known as the Time Management Matrix.
The Time Management Matrix
Although a coach may achieve a lot whilst focusing on activities that are in Quadrant 1, it will keep getting bigger and bigger until it takes all of their time.
Effective coaches recognise what is important but not urgent (Quadrant 2) and prioritise sufficient time to ensure that appropriate preparation and action is implemented to avoid a crisis in the future and in doing so can reduce the time spent in other quadrants.
Coaches who spend a great deal of time on Quadrant 3 activities, do so in the mistaken belief that if something is urgent, it must also be important.
Quadrant 4 activities tend to be those that coaches do to escape those in the other quadrants. They are usually pleasant, escape activities which do not actually contribute to the achievement of objectives
While prioritising tasks into these quadrants will not help High Growth Enterprise Coaches to decide which Quadrant 1 activity to do first and which to do second, and so on, it can be very enlightening for the High Growth Enterprise Coach to establish which quadrants his tasks are in.
Refer to your Activity workbook and complete Activity no. 2.
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