WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:04.919 Welcome Backing Your Leadership. I'm Chris'm Lorenzo, and welcome to this week's Thoughtful 2 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:08.320 Thursday. Don't forget to follow us on YouTube at Hacking your Leadership and leave 3 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:11.240 us a review on iTunes. On this Thoughtful Thursday, I want to talk 4 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:14.919 about the what is affectionately known as the Eisenhower Matrix. Have you heard of 5 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:18.719 this, Lorenzo, I heard of it. Is this like a prequel with 6 00:00:18.879 --> 00:00:22.000 Yanna Reeves? Or yes? Yes, it's the main Yeah, the Eisenhower 7 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:26.079 Matrix. It's the one from the nineties that's a remake the Cold War Matrix. 8 00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:30.839 Yes, exactly. What if I told you that there was a four 9 00:00:30.879 --> 00:00:36.960 box grid that you could assign things too? No karate, Sorry it's kung 10 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.240 fu, but thanks whatever. You've heard the terms do delegate, defer right, 11 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:44.560 Yes, I have heard those. Yes, I think we've talked about 12 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:47.640 it once or twice on the show before. The Eisenhower MATRIXES is similar to 13 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:51.399 that, except there's a fourth option, which is delete. Tasks basically get 14 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:56.479 assigned to one of four kind of quadrants. There's the tasks that are both 15 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:00.679 important and urgent. Then there's tasks that are important but they're not. There 16 00:01:00.679 --> 00:01:03.680 are tasks that are not important but they are urgent. Uh, and they 17 00:01:03.719 --> 00:01:07.359 are there are tasks that are neither important or urgent. And when when you 18 00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:12.439 When I first see that matrix without any of the definitions, my first initial 19 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:15.359 inclination is to say, wait a minute, how could something be urgent but 20 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:19.000 not important? Right? And and you and you think about something like that, 21 00:01:19.079 --> 00:01:23.239 and they classify that as something you should delegate. So it means that 22 00:01:25.120 --> 00:01:29.879 if it's if it needs to get done but not necessarily by you, right. 23 00:01:30.040 --> 00:01:32.799 So yeah, if something doesn't need to get done by anybody, then 24 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:36.359 you can you can get rid of it. Um. I like this more 25 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:40.560 than the old do delegate defer because of the addition of the delete option there, 26 00:01:40.840 --> 00:01:44.480 you know, do delegate defer to me says that whoever is, whoever's 27 00:01:44.519 --> 00:01:48.120 creating the task, there is no option to not do it. It's gonna 28 00:01:48.159 --> 00:01:51.599 get done, whether it's you now, you later, or by somebody else. 29 00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:53.920 It is what it is. And I like to think that that leaders 30 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.680 with autonomy, leaders who are high performing and who lead high performing teams should 31 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:02.400 have the ability to decide what things are unnecessary distractions that don't need to get 32 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:07.719 done. They don't need to get delegated or saved for later. They can 33 00:02:07.760 --> 00:02:09.080 just they can just go away. What are your thoughts about this matrix? 34 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:13.199 Yeah, I like it too, And I like the change in the language 35 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:16.280 where it's instead of it saying defer, where it's like not urgent but important, 36 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:20.800 it's as schedule, right, And I like that because it says tasks 37 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:24.840 with unclear deadlines that contribute to long term success, so they are important. 38 00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:29.599 These things do have to happen, but they don't have to happen right now, 39 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:35.960 and so the schedule to me versus defer is a proactive thinking and reasoning 40 00:02:35.960 --> 00:02:38.759 of saying, I need to make sure this gets done. I need to 41 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:40.879 make sure that it's a mainstain, is a priority. But I do appreciate 42 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:46.199 that because I think there are many times when there are things that fall into 43 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:49.520 that bucket. The other thing that I like about this is, you know, 44 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:55.080 urgent important, so to do are tasks with deadlines or consequences health or 45 00:02:55.159 --> 00:03:00.719 both, right exactly, yeah, and or right Sometime when things fall into 46 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:07.759 this buckets, I don't know that I agree that they are urgent. I 47 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:10.680 will tell you that I think sometimes the urgency has passed on to me because 48 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:15.439 somebody else thinks that it's urgent, or somebody else right thinks that it's important, 49 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:19.240 or somebody else. You know. I think it's the old saying that 50 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:23.199 like a lack of preparation on lack of preparation on your part does not constitute 51 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.120 an emergency on my part. Yes, exactly right. Right. So there 52 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:30.360 are many times when I've told that something is both urgent and important and I 53 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:35.039 say, actually, it's neither. I'd like to delete that, but I 54 00:03:35.080 --> 00:03:37.639 always say, you can tell me how you're going to do something, or 55 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.560 you can ask me to do it exactly. You can't tell me how I'm 56 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:44.159 going to do it exactly right. Yes, So I like this, and 57 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:49.199 especially because I was just having a conversation the other day with a leader around 58 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:53.400 another leader where maybe priority setting was something they were working on, like they 59 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:58.639 were struggling with getting some of the work done. And it's definitely not because 60 00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:00.599 they're not capable of doing it, not because they don't know how to do 61 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:04.599 it, but I think that they would utilize this, like this could be 62 00:04:04.599 --> 00:04:09.000 something to be really helpful when it comes to like, here's all the things 63 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:12.120 that need to get done. Because I think they may be subscribed to. 64 00:04:12.199 --> 00:04:15.599 They do delegate defer, which then is like there's no delete, like you 65 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:17.800 have to do all these things. And I think that could be really really 66 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:21.519 helpful. So like, I like this matrix and it sounds simple and it 67 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.600 sounds easy, and most people are like, no, I get it, 68 00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:28.120 and I've seen it and I know the quadrants and everything like that. But 69 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:30.120 but to really sit down and utilize it, I think it'd be really helpful 70 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.439 for a lot of leaders. Right right, when I hear the word defer, 71 00:04:32.680 --> 00:04:35.319 I think of kicking the can down the road, right, like it 72 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:39.199 would be important if I had the time, but I don't have the time, 73 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:41.600 so I'm not going to do it right now. But if it's not 74 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.680 important, then you'll never find the time, right You'll, You'll it will 75 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:49.680 always be something that is urgent and important that pushes that other thing back to 76 00:04:49.720 --> 00:04:53.199 the end of the back to the bottom of the list again, and then 77 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:56.639 it never gets done. Well, if that's the case, if it didn't 78 00:04:56.680 --> 00:04:58.480 need to get done at all, then you should have gotten rid of it. 79 00:04:58.560 --> 00:05:00.319 Should it should get deleted. So yes, I like the idea of 80 00:05:00.680 --> 00:05:05.160 it being not defer but rather schedule, because it implies that you have to 81 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:09.240 address it right away. You don't necessarily have to do it right away, 82 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:12.600 but by scheduling it, you are addressing it. You're saying, I'm going 83 00:05:12.680 --> 00:05:15.800 to put this on the calendar for this time, and then when that time 84 00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:18.199 comes, I'm going to do it because it is important to do, it's 85 00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:23.800 necessary to do, but it's not urgent in the moment. And I think 86 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:28.879 that I can't think of a task that can be assigned to anybody or that 87 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:31.959 can be given passed down to you by a leader that doesn't fall into one 88 00:05:31.959 --> 00:05:34.639 of these four categories. You might disagree with your leader on which one it 89 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:39.279 falls into, but there isn't a fifth option, right It's either something that 90 00:05:39.360 --> 00:05:42.560 needs to get done right away by you no one else. No one else 91 00:05:42.600 --> 00:05:44.920 can be trusted with this. It has to be you, either because they 92 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:47.199 can't do it, or because it's your job responsibility, it's your actual part 93 00:05:47.240 --> 00:05:51.519 of your role. Or it's something that you can use as a training opportunity, 94 00:05:51.560 --> 00:05:55.920 a development opportunity for other people. But it has to get done right 95 00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:58.600 away. So you can assign it to somebody and know that they have to 96 00:05:58.600 --> 00:06:01.439 do it right away. But it is I don't want to say not important 97 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:05.040 but not important for you to do. I think that's where the clarity has 98 00:06:05.079 --> 00:06:09.720 to be given here. To say something is urgent but not important, I 99 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:13.519 think it devalues the learning opportunity for the person you're delegating it too. So 100 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:17.040 it's not important. It's just not important for you to put on your plate 101 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:19.839 as the leader. You can put it to somebody else where they can actually 102 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:25.839 utilize that as a learning opportunity. And then again deleting things that are absolutely 103 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:29.800 unnecessary and being clear and honest with yourself, look at yourself in the mirror 104 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.639 and saying, am I just not comfortable with deleting this because of what the 105 00:06:32.639 --> 00:06:35.759 implications are? So I'm going to continue to kick the can down the road 106 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.079 when I should be deleting it. Do I want you to have a conversation 107 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:42.680 with my leader about what things should be deleted? Do we have a difference 108 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.680 of opinion on what constitutes important versus urgent? And so, what I want 109 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:48.279 to ask you, Lorenzo, is have you ever had a difference of opinion 110 00:06:48.439 --> 00:06:55.079 with a leader where they felt something was important and urgent and you felt like 111 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:57.639 it was different than that? And so I want to ask you that, 112 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.759 but first I want to get it towards one of our sponsors. All right, 113 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:02.279 Lorenzo, tell me about a time and you had to move through this 114 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:08.040 situation where you had somebody thrown something at you that was both important and urgent 115 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:12.439 to them, and you knew that it didn't necessarily have to be in that 116 00:07:12.519 --> 00:07:14.680 quadrant. You could it could go somewhere else. How did you kind of 117 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:18.600 navigate through that? I think sometimes in the short sidedness of urgency, people 118 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.839 think like it has to get done right away, it must be you. 119 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:26.000 You said it a little bit earlier, but then you kind of like glaze 120 00:07:26.040 --> 00:07:30.600 over the opportunity for development or learning from another leader. And so there are 121 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:38.600 very specific tasks that only I can do that that only I'm the person who 122 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:41.839 has to do it for different reasons, whether it's legal reasons or whatever the 123 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:46.160 case is. But those are very very very few things. Um the vast 124 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:49.399 majority of the things that I can do, other leaders can also do. 125 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:57.319 And I think when it comes to the development of leaders, these opportunities sometimes 126 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:01.480 are not always there. So you have to find those spaces and times when 127 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:05.040 there is an opportunity for them to get experienced with something that would be a 128 00:08:05.079 --> 00:08:13.079 decision or a situation that they wouldn't really normally be involved in, but can 129 00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:16.439 have a chance to go through it and to learn. And that's where I 130 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:20.120 will sometimes say, like, hey, this will get done one hundred percent. 131 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:22.800 This will get done. It will be done by the deadline, it 132 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:26.720 will be done the correct way, it will be done to your satisfaction. 133 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:31.360 But I'm going to work with somebody to get this done because I see this 134 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:33.399 as a learning moment and I see this as something that could add some value 135 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:37.320 to another one of our leaders. So again I'm going to be clear about 136 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:41.960 that upfront, because what what you can't do is say oh, I got 137 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:43.559 it, no problems, and you say, hey, theres only I need 138 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:46.559 you to take care of this, and I say, you got a Chris, 139 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:48.039 I'll take care of it. And then I give it to somebody else, 140 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:52.240 and then they do something and it's not exactly right, and then you 141 00:08:52.279 --> 00:08:54.559 come back and you say I thought I said you were going to take care 142 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:56.799 of it, and I said, well, I meant that like I would 143 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:58.519 oversee it. I meant that, like I would make sure it would get 144 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:03.240 done. Right. You should not do that right if you're going to move 145 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.720 it from that bucket to any of the other two or three. You got 146 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:09.320 to be clear. You gotta be upfront with that, and you have to 147 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:11.919 say, like, here's what I'm going to do, so that you're aware 148 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:16.279 of that. I'm either going to bring it in another leader and have them 149 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:20.080 to have an opportunity to work on this, or I'm going to schedule this. 150 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:24.080 I know you say it's urgent for you right now. I don't see 151 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:24.960 it that way. Here's why I don't see it that way. I will 152 00:09:24.960 --> 00:09:30.200 get that taken care of next Tuesday or next Wednesday, and you kind of 153 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:33.039 move on. But I think that's that's the important part is if you're going 154 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:35.279 to shift it to a different box, you have to communicate what you're doing 155 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:37.600 and why you're doing it. I completely agree that. I think I think 156 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:43.279 a lot of leaders might fall into this trap where they don't inherently explain the 157 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.879 why they've put it into a certain box. So someone comes to you and 158 00:09:46.919 --> 00:09:48.960 says, hey, Laurens, I need you to take care of this, 159 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:52.559 and in their mind they're thinking this is urgent and important, and in your 160 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:56.679 mind you're thinking, oh, I mean I've delegated this before to people on 161 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:58.799 my team, I can delegate this. Again, If the person who's asked 162 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:03.279 you to it hasn't shared with you the context on why you specifically are being 163 00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:05.879 asked to do it, then it might go over your head. It might 164 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:11.960 you might not realize there's other things working in the background that might mean that 165 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:16.120 you don't necessarily understand the gravity of the situation of why you have to do 166 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:18.720 it, and so you go to delegate it. Yeah, that's a that's 167 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:22.120 a miss on your part if you haven't stopped to make sure there's clarity there. 168 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:26.799 Hopefully the leader would provide that clarity upfront if they need to make sure 169 00:10:26.840 --> 00:10:28.919 you're the one doing it, especially if you have a track record of really 170 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:33.080 positive examples of delegation and that going well. Hopefully they would. But at 171 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:35.879 the end of the day, if you're the one being asked to do it, 172 00:10:35.360 --> 00:10:39.600 you don't get to delegate it without making sure that the person who's asked 173 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:41.639 you to do it understands that's what you're going to do, and by making 174 00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:46.240 sure there's clarity around that, you're never going to have a situation where you've 175 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:50.120 accidentally or intentionally delegated something and find out later that's going to cause more problems 176 00:10:50.120 --> 00:10:54.639 than it would have if you just got it done yourself. Because you're right, 177 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:58.559 very very few things normally would fall into things you have to do. 178 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:03.000 Almost all of them can be scheduled, almost all of them can be delegated, 179 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.120 but the otherwise, otherwise, how would anybody ever get promoted. You 180 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:09.759 know that you have to be able to demonstrate the ability to do the role 181 00:11:09.799 --> 00:11:11.519 before you take the role. So by definition, they have to be able 182 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:15.600 to do these things. I think that's such an important clarity there is that 183 00:11:15.919 --> 00:11:18.399 is that have the conversation upfront. Now, don't just assume that you get 184 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.559 to decide where where things go simply because you've decided that in the past. 185 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.360 Absolutely, And with that it brings us to the end of this episode. 186 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.399 This is hacking your leadership. I'm Lorenzo and I'm Chris, and have a 187 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:31.279 great day.