This article has been accepted for publication in the March 2004 issue of Executive Branch, the newsletter for the Maryland Society of Association Executives

9 Smart Things Leaders Do To Keep A “Priority” Focus
By Barbara Brown, PhD

If your staff is busy doing the right things, then the things they are doing should have the greatest impact on your association’s goals. If that’s the case, your staff is spending most of their time performing the “most-essential” rather than “least-essential” tasks. This means everyone is engaged in activities that primarily produce, not just support, outcomes. Given the size of many association staffs, this focus is critically important.

Elza Harrison, CAE, Executive Director of the Maryland Dental Association and the first woman president of the Maryland Society of Association Executives, says that each of her 7 member staff carries a double workload. Harrison finds that being flexible about when and how work gets done is important for keeping a high priority focus. Harrison has created an environment where staff members know they can take off to handle emergencies or personal issues as long as tasks are accomplished. They also make independent decisions about helping each other and prioritizing tasks. Harrison’s staff values this freedom. This is one reason they willingly and continuously deliver the kind of performance that results in positive outcomes.

Use these strategies to keep your staff focused on critical priorities and engaged in outcome-producing tasks:

1. Determine the “most-essential” tasks each of your staff members must perform. Consider “most-essential” tasks as those that directly lead to an outcome; for instance, processing a membership request.

2. Rank the percentage of time each staff member devotes to these “most- essential” tasks. Divide allocations according to 20%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. Establish a goal of 80% time spent on “most-essential” tasks.

3. Determine the “least-essential” tasks each staff member must perform. Consider “least-essential” tasks as those that support the outcome; for instance, creating a weekly tally of all the membership requests processed.

4. Rank the percentage of time each of your staff members devotes to these “non- essential” tasks. Divide allocations according to 20%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. Establish a goal of 20% time spent on “least-essential” tasks.

5. For “least-essential” tasks, work with staff to determine how these tasks might be streamlined to require less time. Use the 5W + 1H approach to ask the kind of critical questions that lead to valuable ideas:

Who else might do this task?
What other approaches might we use?
When else might this task be done?
Why is this task necessary?
Where else is this information/action duplicated?
How else might this task be done?

6. At the beginning of each month, discuss with your staff any obstacles that prevent devoting 80% of their time to “most-essential” tasks. Brainstorm ways to minimize or eliminate these obstacles.

7. When individual staff members, teams, or volunteers discuss projects, always emphasize the time spent performing “most-essential” versus “least-essential” tasks.

8. Designate 5 minutes of each regularly scheduled staff meeting to discuss how one “most-essential” task is linked to a major association goal, a member service or product, or a critical priority.

9. Each month have a “working smarter” party where everyone shares and celebrates streamlining ideas over pizza, cake, or popcorn.

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