The Priority Matrix
The Priority Matrix can help us focus on the important instead of the urgent. Let’s learn more!
The Priority Matrix
As the story goes, the concept of the priority matrix was an idea from a university president that caused President Eisenhower to utter the quote you see below in a 1954 speech. Later, in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey developed these concepts into what he called the Time Management Matrix. Over time, the matrix has been called the Eisenhower Matrix, the Eisenhower Box, the Urgent-Important Matrix, and the term I like, the Priority Matrix. Each of these is the same as my version of the priority matrix except for the labeling of boxes 1-4. They could be labeled do, decide, delegate, and delete or simply I, II, III, IV. I have also seen these called a four square or four blocker. All these various names essentially perform the same function; they just have a slightly different take on how they do it. There is also a version of this tool called a nine-block or nine-blocker. I’ll tell you a bit about how this is used later. See the drawing at the bottom of this post for my version of the priority matrix.
Priority matrixes can be helpful anytime you have limited resources and must determine the most important things you want to accomplish. While typically envisioned as a business tool, I encourage using it for your personal goal development. Every one of us has limited resources, so we must make the best use of our time and resources to achieve our goals and either discard or proactively delay the attainment of others. The priority matrix helps us do that. You will notice that the priority matrix is divided into four quadrants, and importance and urgency are defined on the horizontal and vertical axes, such that the top right quadrant is for our most pressing issues, and the bottom left is for the least important issues.
Have you ever participated in brainstorming?
During the course, there is a point where we brainstorm all the things in life you want to do. It can be anything from buying a new car every ten years, saving a million dollars for retirement, going on a beach vacation, paying for your children’s college, or getting promoted to manager. Again, we will talk about goals and timelines in detail later, but for now, your takeaway from this post is that you likely have a lot of things you want to do, have limited time and resources to do them all, and must figure out which ones to do and in what order.
To understand how this works, write down some of the things you want to do in life right now. About ten or so should do. Then, assign a number or letter to each of your dreams or goals. It does not matter what order they are in at this point. Assign each of them a number or even a letter if that suits you better. Then, please write the corresponding number or letter for each of your dreams and goals in the priority matrix based on their importance to you and when you want to accomplish them. It’s OK to use relative positions within the box; that is a secondary method for prioritizing your goal, as you will see when we finish this exercise.
When you take the course, we’ll use a priority matrix for each goal category: Financial, Professional, and Personal. Then, in the end, we’ll combine them all, and the result will be your life goals, all in one document!
During the course, we work to ensure all of this falls into place very nicely and neatly. For this post, just know that the priority matrix is one tool (there will be others during the course) for prioritizing your goals.
Dealing with conflicting and complementary goals
If you completed the exercise I just mentioned, you may have some conflicts. Again, we will go into detail during the course and cover this in later posts. There is something else I want to at least say for now, and it’s this: Many goals are complementary. That is, as you accomplish one, it is a building block to another goal of yours. Let me give you an example. If you have a goal to complete your formal education or obtain additional training or perhaps professional certifications, and you also have a goal to be promoted to manager, and then you have a third goal to make $5,000 more per year in two years, then you may find, indeed you should plan to use the education or training to help you get promoted, which should increase your pay. As listed in the priority matrix, education or training would be a “do now” item, and getting promoted and getting a pay increase would be a “do next.” Remember that each of these goals needs to be timebound; as you complete your periodic review, you can adjust your plan as needed. I hope all of this makes sense to you.
Introduction to the Nine Blocker
At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that I would tell you about nine blockers and how they can be used. If you are a leader of people, you must occasionally complete performance reviews. Many large companies utilize a bell curve to distribute their performance ratings appropriately. Hence, the nine blockers assist in comparing each employee and rating them from one to end. This tool can determine bonus pay, stock options, or other incentive pay. When you rate your employees using this method, it quickly becomes apparent who your top performers are, and these folks should be the ones you are looking at for promotion or other developmental opportunities. Similarly, this tool will also tell you who needs additional development.
There is a dirty little secret about the nine blockers as well. Sometimes, companies must have a reduction in force (RIF) or lay off employees. If your organization uses a nine-blocker for performance reviews, this tool can determine who should be subject to a RIF. These are some of the most challenging tasks a leader must do. Using a tool like the nine blocker takes the emotion out of it. If you used nine blockers to provide developmental opportunities for your folks, perhaps some responded at that time and were able to increase their performance. That would be a good thing, but then there will still be someone(s) at the bottom.
So, if you are an employee, you should know that your company leadership is likely keeping track of your performance relative to your peers. You may never know this or hear about it. As such, your rewards and your ability to keep working for that company likely depend upon your performance. This is why such post-pandemic hacks as quiet quitting, quiet vacationing, mouse jigglers, and other such schemes can backfire and have a bad ending. Of course, as a high performer with big aspirations, you already know this.
OK, that’s about it for our discussion of the priority matrix. See you next time!
The Priority Matrix
“The most urgent decisions are rarely the most important ones”
-Dwight Eisenhower.
What’s in it for Me
The priority matrix is a great tool for sorting through conflicting goals or tasks. Typically considered a business tool, it can also help you in your personal life.
Call to Action
If you did the abovementioned exercise, you have seen how the priority matrix is an objective method to prioritize tasks or goals. Consider how you can use this tool in your personal life as well. You may not need to use the physical matrix, but you can use the concept in your head. Let me give you a real-life example I am dealing with as I write this post. I must leave town tomorrow because one of our daughters is buying a house and asked me to accompany the home inspector. Then, this Friday, I am going to my son’s house in Charlotte as he has asked me to do some things with him. At the same time, I received my first book draft back for review, and my second book was just returned from the editor, and both need my time and attention. What to do? In this case, I’ve prioritized my activities with children over getting books published, even though both are over five years in the making, and I am excited to see them become a reality! Oh, the decisions we have to make sometimes!
Recommended Resources
Purchase and read Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven (Note 1). In this remarkable book, Admiral McRaven tells us how to start our day right and offers practical advice for making personal changes to improve ourselves and our world.
Up Next
Manifesting and visualizing are great. However…
Notes
Please note that as an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn a small commission on the sale of any of these recommended resources.
Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven: https://amzn.to/4eV5Zk8