Boss to Coach Conversation 3 of 5
Getting Things Done: Making the Most of your Check In Meeting


HOW TO USE THIS MODULE

This module can be used in two ways.

  • If you are preparing for a workshop or coaching session
    Work through the exercises below and bring your thinking with you.

  • If you are doing the online starter series
    Work through the exercises below, then apply one part of it with your team this week.

This module is about how you prioritise work, use your strengths, and run effective check-in conversations.

Limited for time?
If you only do one thing, focus on Step Three: determining which tasks to keep, delegate, or stop.

Objectives

At the end of this module you will be able to:

  • Prioritise your work using a simple framework

  • Identify where your strengths add the most value

  • Delegate more effectively through clearer task ownership

Duration 90-minutes

Your Output

By the end of this module, you will have prepared:

  • Your completed Eisenhower Matrix

  • Your identified CliftonStrengths domains

  • Your completed Delegation Diagnostic

Step One “The What” Focus on the Big Rocks

“What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important.”
Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States 

We are drowning in a sea of urgent work. Most roles run at 110 to 130% of their capacity. The average amount of time a manager spends in meetings is 23 hours per week. The average number of e-mails received per day is 121.

One indication of this overwhelm, is the pervasive use of to-do lists, which attempt to keep a handle on our responsibilities and are, according to one LinkedIn study, used by 63% of professionals. That would be great if we reliably accomplished what we set out to do. But the startup iDoneThis analysed their users’ data and discovered that 41% of the to-do list tasks users inputted were never accomplished  — little wonder in a world where the average professional has 150 tasks to be done at any given time, according to research by psychologists Ray Baumeister and John Tierney. 

Watch If prioritising is a key management skill, how do we do this? See the video by Stephen Covey Put First Things First Big Rocks

Action Not all tasks are urgent and not all are important

Review your master task list. Could you take a break from your desk and complete this exercise over a cup of tea or coffee?

  1. Print out the template found by clicking the button below, or grab an A4 sheet of paper and fold it into 4 equal squares

  2. Take all your tasks and place them within the 4 task types as per the diagram below

  3. For the delegate tasks, aim to write someone else’s name against the task

Download

Step Two “The Who” Leverage your strengths and the strengths of your team

“Teams should be well rounded precisely because we as individuals are not”

It can be difficult to understand every nuance of the 34 CliftonStrengths themes. Looking at them through the lens of the four domains of leadership strength makes it easier. The domains answer the question, "How do I make sense of the world on a greater scale than just my individual CliftonStrengths themes?"

People tend to think about what they don't do well, or what weaknesses they need to work on. The domains can help people understand where they're most powerful, and how to use that power to make their greatest contribution.

The four domains summarise what every leader and team need to accomplish. This is about partnership. Teams should be well rounded precisely because we as individuals are not. All leaders and teams need to be able to

  1. STRATEGICALLY THINK “The What” Help consider what could be.  Absorb and analyse information for better decisions

  2. INFLUENCE “The Why” Take charge, speak up and  make sure the team is heard

  3. RELATIONSHIP BUILD “The Who” Build strong relationships that hold the team together to make it greater than the sum of the parts

  4. EXECUTE “The How” Know how to make things happen

See more in the video below.

Whether leaders and teams can accomplish these using their own Strengths or must rely on partners and their Strengths, the CliftonStrengths Domains help us understand and meet the demands of our roles and responsibilities.

Action Describe how you contribute to a team to get things done by identifying the domains where your strengths naturally sit.

  1. Download and complete the quick activity to identify the CliftonStrengths domains where your strengths profile sits. Look for your Top 5 strengths to see which domain/s they sit in.  The domain that has most of your strengths will be an indication of your working preference/leadership style 

  2. If your strengths are evenly spread across a number of domains, then choose the domain that most relates to you from watching the videos.  Often, you can be in more than one domain

  3. Further understand what each domain means, watch the related video where your Top 5 strengths sit below

If you haven’t already Complete a CliftonStrengths profile

Download

Step Three “The How” Determine which tasks sit where

Quite simply, people don't delegate because it takes a lot of up-front effort as no one will ever do a task the same way as you. At first sight, delegation can feel like more hassle than it's worth, however by delegating effectively, you can hugely expand the amount of work that you can deliver.

When you arrange the workload so that you are working on the tasks that have the highest priority for you, and other people are working on meaningful and challenging assignments, you have a recipe for success.

To delegate effectively, you have to choose the right tasks to delegate, identify the right people to delegate to, and delegate in the right way. There's a lot to this, but you'll achieve so much more. For more on the art of delegation, watch the video below.

Action Complete a diagnostic with your team about how and where you can delegate more by asking them the following questions

Don’t have any direct reports? Could you have this discussion with your team leader instead?

  1. Within each area of your key responsibilities are there areas where I am getting too involved?

  2. Within each area of your key responsibilities are there areas where I need to get more involved?

  3. Do you see me doing things that someone at my level does not need to be doing, that I can delegate?

Put this into practice

This week, review your current task list and do three things:

  • Identify one task to stop

  • Identify one task to delegate

  • Identify one task to prioritise

Use this to shape your next check-in conversation by focusing on what to stop, what to delegate, and what matters most.

Next: Development Plan