Process - Top Tips - Priority Grid

Priority Grid

This document is designed as a quick reference guide to prioritising.

This will enable you to gain knowledge of a particular skill, task or process in store. This means you can quickly find the key information that you need and refer to it on an ongoing basis whenever you need to refresh your knowledge.

Introduction

Do you feel overwhelmed by the amount of work you have to do? Do you face a constant barrage of looming deadlines? And do you sometimes just forget to do something important, so that people have to chase you to get work done?

Given the large number of tasks an individual is expected to complete during a day, it becomes necessary to put these in order of priority, so that the most important or urgent tasks get done first.

Process - Top Tips - Priority Grid

Priority Grid

What you need to know…

The first step to effective prioritising is to list all the tasks as a ‘to do’ list.

Whilst To-Do Lists are very simple, they are also extremely powerful, both as a method of organising yourself and as a way of reducing stress. Often problems may seem overwhelming or you may have a seemingly huge number of demands on your time. This may leave you feeling out of control, and overburdened with work.

Start by writing down the tasks that face you, and if they are large, break them down into their component elements. If these still seem large, break them down again. Do this until you have listed everything that you have to do, and until tasks are will take no more than 1 - 2 hours to complete.

Once you have done this, run through these jobs allocating priorities:

A’s • must be done today

B’s • should be done today

C’s • could be done today

Priority Grid

Task	Priority (A-C)

When allocating priorities consider the following:

Process - Top Tips - Priority Grid

Priority Grid

Use whatever timescale meets your needs. If you find you have a lot of A’s, you may need to further prioritise into A1, A2, A3, etc. Be aware:

● Priorities may change with time, so keep your plans fluid

● Items seldom get more important, only more urgent.

● When you have finished your prioritising, make sure that you start by tackling your A1’s first!