The urgent displacing the important

For many of us, an updated “To Do” list corresponds with the beginning of a new week.

Having a list of priorities helps create a sense of order and manageability.  And for the chronic list makers among us, there is that special satisfaction of crossing something off the list.  A job done, progress made, entropy defied.  A striking through of some words on a page and a little endorphin hit to go with it.  Each list item is added with the anticipation of crossing it off.

There are traps in this process of course.  One such trap is the illusion of equivalence – that all items on a list are of the same importance.  Prioritisation may address that problem, but it’s easy to confuse urgency and importance.  A task can earn an ‘A’ priority on your Monday list because you have committed to complete it by close of business.  It needs your immediate attention for the commitment to be met.  Sounds kind of important.  On the other hand, it may be the world would not end if the task was deferred.  It may also be that a succession of urgent tasks is displacing some things that really are important.

There are a number of different ways to describe the ‘urgent v important’ conundrum.  Alternatives that come to mind are ‘operational v strategic’ and ‘working in the business rather than on the business’.  Potential examples of important business tasks that tend to get displaced by ‘urgent’ matters include reviews of pricing practices, introducing new systems, finding and moving to more suitable premises, retiring old product lines, starting new service initiatives etc.  They may be critical to the long run success of a business, but as the world does not end if they are not done today, they can be all too easily put off.

The urgent displacing the important is particularly an issue for business leaders, as they have responsibility for advancement of big picture strategy.  Notwithstanding that CEOs and business unit heads might have clear strategic goals execution ideas, this occurs in a context of real world impediments.  For small companies it tends to be resource constraints that slows things down.  For large companies, particularly listed companies, it can be the pressure to meet short term targets that diverts the focus from longer term activities.  For all businesses, there is simply the unforeseen event.  Global pandemics, natural disasters and loss of key people are good examples.

This juggling of near term imperatives with the activities that will drive medium and long term welfare of a business has been an issue for business leaders since the dawn of commerce.  While the tension is ever present, it’s very healthy to stop periodically and take a conscious look at where the balance sits.  Which brings us back to those weekly ‘To Do’ lists.  How is yours looking?  Are you happy that you have the right mix between what is urgent for your business and what is truly important”?