The urgent displacing the important

For many of us, an updated “To Do” list corresponds with the beginning of a new week. Having a list of priorities helps create a sense of order and manageability.

There are traps in this process of course. One such trap is the illusion of equivalence – that all items on a list are of the same importance. Prioritisation may address that problem, but it’s easy to confuse urgency and importance. A task can earn an ‘A’ priority on your Monday list because you have committed to complete it by close of business. On the other hand, it may be that the world would not end if the task was deferred. It may also be that a succession of urgent tasks is displacing some things that really are important.

There are a number of different ways to describe the ‘urgent v important’ conundrum: ‘operational v strategic’, ‘working in the business rather than on the business’. Potential examples of important business tasks that tend to get displaced by ‘urgent’ matters include reviews of pricing practices, introducing new systems, finding more suitable premises, retiring old product lines, starting new service initiatives etc. They may be critical to the long run success of a business, but as the world does not end if they are not done today, they can be all too easily put off.

The urgent displacing the important is particularly an issue for business leaders, as they have responsibility for advancement of big picture strategy. For small companies it tends to be resource constraints that slow things down. For large, particularly listed companies, it can be the pressure to meet short term targets that diverts focus from longer term activities. For all businesses, there is simply the unforeseen event – global pandemics, natural disasters and loss of key people are good examples.

This juggling of near term imperatives with the activities that will drive the medium and long term welfare of a business has been an issue for business leaders since the dawn of commerce. While the tension is ever present, it’s very healthy to stop periodically and take a conscious look at where the balance sits. Which brings us back to those weekly ‘To Do’ lists. How is yours looking? Are you happy that you have the right mix between what is urgent for your business and what is truly important?