Takeaways from an old HBR article:
Prioritize and sequence your work.
- Narrow focus on “today” puts us in “reactive, firefighting mode.”
- Have clear milestones and review them regularly with leadership.
- Identify crunch times to better manage time (mine and the teams) and leadership’s expectations
- “Pick one task and focus on it intensely, rather than juggling.”
- “Decide on a distinct set of must-achieve outcomes, define which actions are necessary to achieve only those results, and ruthlessly stick to them.”
- “If you must multitask, then coordinate and group any compatible duties.”
Setting and Communicating Expectations
Document and communicate progress. Seeing momentum helps your team leaders feel empowered and in control. Be up front when problems arise. The earlier you say, “I’ve got a conflict and might have trouble delivering 100%,” the more leaders will trust you.
Optimizing your Development
“Under time pressure, the temptation is for each person to contribute where they already have deep knowledge, rather than investing in members’ learning and growth. You need to own your development goals and your progress toward them.”