Avoiding the all-out sprint

How are you doing as we enter back-to-school season and approach what is, for many, the busiest time of year?

Last week, we talked about gifts to our future self, in the form of refilling the coffee machine the night before, or considering how a commitment will feel in the moment and not just in the future. 

This time of year, we can also give gifts to our future selves as teams and organizations —specifically, identifying key priorities for the end of Q3 and for Q4, in a way that is realistic and achievable. 

In recent years, I've noticed that teams have become increasingly exhausted and stressed as we move through September, October, November, and December. . . leading to a full-out sprint, with a massive pile of priorities to be accomplished by "the end of the year."  

As leaders, our opportunity is to:

• Get clear on what the true priorities are

• Effectively communicate these priorities to and with our teams

• Talk through cascading priorities as a team: what our top priorities are, and how those cascade down to division, department, team, and even individual-level priorities

Ideally, our list of key priorities should involve a small handful of most-important things (the word "priority" used to be singular) rather than a stack of 76 unfinished items that have accumulated over the course of the year. 

What do you think?

Any gifts that you give to yourself, as a leader —or to your team, as we approach the final segment of the year?

This post was originally shared via Friday Favorites —a free weekly curation of resources, reflections, and inquiries on leadership and life. Join us here, and join the weekly conversation, if you’d like.