Priorities

Courses Strengthening the Leader’s Mindset Priorities
“The best leaders satisfy multiple priorities with each activity. This actually enables them to increase their focus while reducing their number of actions.” ~ John C. Maxwell

 Priorities sit at the top of the decision-making tree, or more accurately, a P.O.S.T.

  • Priorities are what you want
  • Objectives are what you do to get what you want
  • Strategies are how you do it
  • Tactics are the actual doing

Read more about the P.O.S.T. Framework and download a free quick start worksheet below:

READ and DOWNLOAD:  P.O.S.T. Framework

In any other order, we lose sight of the big picture and end up digging a ditch in the backyard instead of planting a tree in the front yard.

 As events scale in size and complexity, whether planned or unplanned, the demands on the leader’s attention increase as well.

 Priorities provide the touchstone that the leader can return to again and again to ensure that the ship is sailing in the right direction.

 For unplanned events that endanger the public (disasters, etc.) I’ve found one phrase that keeps me grounded in the priority:

“Do the Most Good, For the Most People, in the Least Amount of Time with the Least Amount of Risk.” ~ Mike McKenna

 Leaders that commit themselves to “Do the Most Good, For the Most People, in the Least Amount of Time with the Least Amount of Risk” enjoy more satisfying outcomes.

“Do the Most Good, For the Most People, in the Least Amount of Time with the Least Amount of Risk.” ~ Mike McKenna

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Similarly, there’s an acronym that helps make the point: L.I.P.S.

  • Life Safety - protect yourself, your team and your victim in that order before anything else.
  • Incident Stabilization - Stop the problem from worsening.
  • Property Preservation - Save property from further damage.
  • Societal Restoration - Bring the community back to pre-event condition.

 Example:

 The creek is rising and threatening the daycare facility.  The priorities - in order - are to:

  1. Evacuate the children and staff to a better place. (Life Safety)
  2. Place barricades in the area to prevent motorists from driving into flood water. (Incident Stabilization)
  3. Dam up the outside of the daycare with sandbags to reduce water damage to the building. (Property Preservation)
  4. Clean up flood debris, remove sandbags, make repairs, and resume normal operations. (Societal Restoration)

 There are other acronyms and mnemonics used to reference these crisis response priorities; L.I.P.S. is just one of them.

Leaders find a system of remembering and applying important concepts that work for them.

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