Short-term thinking, short-term success

If we give our staff a list of objectives to meet or tasks to complete, they will generally do so. After all, most come to work to do a good job and to please their employer.

If we give them lots of tasks to do, they will need to prioritise.  Their priorities will not necessarily be the same as ours.

There will be a tendency for them to complete all the quick, short duration tasks as this will make their completed lists look longer.  Unfortunately, this probably means they leave very important, longer-duration tasks at the back of the queue.  

If not careful, you will hamper long-term success for a few quick wins.

Prioritisation is too important to leave to them. You must share with them what you believe is really important and what, for example, may be urgent but trivial.

You need to MANAGE; you can’t leave it to them.