How to prioritize
The prioritization of work involves deciding on the relative
importance of a range of demands or tasks so that the order in
which they are undertaken can be determined. The fragmented
nature of managerial work and the sudden and often conflicting
demands made on your time means that you will constantly be
faced with decisions on when to do things. There may often be
situations when you have to cope with conflicting priorities. This
can be stressful unless you adopt a systematic approach to prior-
itization.
Prioritization can be carried out in the following stages.
- List all the things you have to do. These can be classified into
three groups:- regular duties such as submitting a report, calling on
customers, carrying out a performance review; - special requests from managers, colleagues, customers,
clients, suppliers and so on, delivered orally, by e-mail,
telephone, letter, or fax; - self-generated work such as preparing proposals on a
new procedure.
- regular duties such as submitting a report, calling on
- Classify each item on the list according to:
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