Delegation, Decisions, and Deadlines: Mastering Urgent vs. Important

Mastering the ability to determine whether tasks are urgent versus important is essential for leadership. Strategic delegation reduces your workload, supports team skill development, and ensures task completion by deadlines.

Refining your focus on whether tasks are urgent or important empowers your team and elevates your leadership. The following strategies can help.

Create an Eisenhower Matrix

Write down your tasks for the day or week. Then, create an Eisenhower Matrix to determine the urgency and importance of each.

Draw a large T to create four quadrants. Label them as follows:

• Quadrant 1: Upper left, urgent and important, do today
• Quadrant 2: Upper right, not urgent but important, plan
• Quadrant 3: Lower left, urgent but not important, delegate
• Quadrant 4: Lower right, not urgent or important, eliminate

Use these tips to decide in which category to place each task:

1. Consider the deadlines: Urgent tasks require fast turnaround and should be handled immediately. Conversely, important tasks have more manageable deadlines, allowing time to finish them at a later date.
2. Evaluate the urgency: Consider what might happen if you miss a deadline. Significant consequences mean you should complete the task today. Otherwise, schedule it for another day.
3. Count the tasks in each quadrant: If most of your tasks are in the first and second quadrants, leaving the third and fourth mostly empty, reconsider whether some can move downward.
4. Prioritize the tasks: Determine whether a task helps accomplish your goals, aligns with your job description, matters to your boss, or significantly impacts the company.
5. Delegate tasks: Assign quadrant 3 tasks to team members.
6. Eliminate tasks: Delete tasks that are not your responsibility or do not add organizational value.

Focus on Delegation

Delegating work to your team provides these benefits:

• Reduces your workload
• Supports team members’ skill development
• Empowers your team to deliver their best
• Builds your capacity to complete work through delegation
• Increases your and your team’s organizational value  
• Elevates your leadership potential

The following tips support delegating work to your team:

1. Share the importance of the work: Understanding why the work matters and how a team member can help clarifies the value of completing it. Knowing what is at stake and how it fits into the big picture provides motivation and increases follow-through.
2. Explain the work: Define the work, the scope of your team member’s contribution, its alignment with their capacity, and any additional expectations. Ensure your team member understands the assignment, especially if it requires a specific methodology or a precise outcome.  
3. Monitor your involvement: Talk with your team members about how involved you should be in completing the work. Focus on providing adequate support, accountability, and autonomy while engaging during critical moments requiring feedback. Clarifying the frequency of touchpoints helps the work get completed.

Practice Saying “Yes,” “No,” and “Yes, If”

Be selective in what you agree to and how you spend your time:

• Evaluate each request you are given.
• Consider how each task aligns with your skills and highest-valued contributions.
• Say “yes” to a request that matches your abilities and greatest assets.
• Turn down a request that does not fall within your specialization.
• Answer “yes, if” to a request requiring additional skills and identify a colleague to help you.

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