How to Coach for Better Prioritization

This month, we’ve been discussing better prioritization. We started by debunking the myth that you can have multiple priorities and established a process for getting to one. Next, we dealt with the challenge of prioritizing when everything is urgent. Today, we’re shifting gears to talk about how to help people who want to get their ducks in a row. Let’s talk about how to coach people to better prioritization.

First, it’s worth highlighting that coaching is a process where you help someone articulate their goals and then use questions, reflection, and reframing to help them identify better ways to accomplish those goals. You’ll notice that coaching is not about instructing, advising, or evaluating, which is probably a more common mode for most managers. (I’ve provided some options for how to use these other development dialogues at the end of this article.)

What might it look like if you wanted to coach someone to be better at prioritization rather than just telling them what to do? How can you help them take accountability for better prioritization rather than imposing it on them?

There’s a process you can follow:

Help Frame the Opportunity

If an employee has come to you asking for help prioritizing, the first step is to find out what they’re trying to accomplish.

Questions to Identify Their Goals

First, do some context setting. Help them figure out where prioritization fits in and why it’s important to them. Their answers will help guide your attention toward the aspects of prioritization that matter most to them.

What are you hoping to accomplish this year?What impact do you want to have on the business?What do you love about your work? What do you wish was different?What would be your goals in improving prioritization?

As they answer, reflect what you’re hearing. “It sounds like you’re after x, y, or z,” or “For you, the most important goal is to do A, and prioritization is important because B.”

Don’t miss the chance to throw in the gem of a question from The Coaching Habit, “Anything else?” before you move to the next step.

Questions to Assess Motivation

Next, help them build the case for change by reflecting on what motivates their choice to work on prioritization. You want them to tap into their own intrinsic motivation rather than embark on a prioritization exercise because someone else told them it was the right thing to do. Help them envision something compelling they’re willing to work hard toward.

What would be the most rewarding parts of being better at setting priorities?What’s at stake if you don’t implement better prioritization strategies?How would you like better prioritization to change your work experience?Where does prioritization fit in with your other development priorities?

These questions might lead you down many avenues. You might learn that prioritization is about improving work-life balance, reducing friction with teammates who have different goals, or managing a neurodiverse or anxious brain.

Again, reflect what you’re hearing and what you’re interpolating and see if it helps the person paint a clear picture of what they’re working toward. “It sounds like the most attractive part of being better at prioritization would be not working so many evenings. Is that the big prize for you?”

Questions to Narrow Focus

Once you help them build the case for why they want to change, you can be extremely helpful by narrowing their focus to manageable first steps. If they rush off trying to become the world’s best prioritizer overnight, they’ll probably become overwhelmed and abandon the process.

(I wish I’d had someone to prioritize my prioritization in 1992 before I went out and spent money I didn’t have on the Cadillac of planning systems–the Franklin leather planner with accessories and inserts… which was WAY too much and quickly abandoned in a drawer.)

Where might you start to introduce some new strategies into your planning?Which technique do you want to try first?If you could improve one aspect of prioritization, which would it be?What timeslot do you want to devote to planning each week?

You can help by reflecting their answers and asking follow-up questions. “How does that starting point align with your goal of reducing evening work?” “What other strategies might impact that more directly?” Or “You’ve listed three ideas, which one makes sense as the starting point that you can build from?”

Ok, job #1 is done. Off they go.

Support Course Correction

Once they’re on their way, your role as a coach shifts. Now, you want to be a mirror to help reflect on what they’re doing, what’s working, and what else they might try.

Find Opportunities to Observe

To be an effective coach, it helps to have opportunities to observe the person in action so you can provide feedback to help them become more aware of the choices they’re making. Pay attention to what they’re asking when you delegate a task, which activities they’re doing first, second, and third, and how focused they are when they’re working on a task.

Share Your Observations

You might suggest a weekly touch point where they show you what’s on their priority list for the week and take you through their thinking of how they arrived at that ranking. This approach is about observing their actions.

Another thing you can observe is their outputs. You might share what you see regarding more timely or higher-quality work. If you can tie your observations to their goals, all the better. If they wanted to work fewer evenings, are you noticing that you’re getting their finished work during office hours more often?

Finally, you can comment on how their new behaviors and outputs are affecting important outcomes for the team. You might share that you’ve heard great feedback from their peers about how they’re getting what they need. Or be candid that their more rigorous prioritization has increased your confidence that they’re accountable.

Repeat

One great round of coaching will not win the person the Nobel Prize for Prioritization. You might still need to do another round on the first action because it didn’t go as planned, or there is still room to optimize. Alternatively, you might be ready to help them think about laddering on a new skill or process.

But coaching is only one development dialogue in your kit. Sometimes, you aren’t in a position to be patient or to let the employee drive. In those situations, you have other options. Here are some examples of other development dialogues you could use to help someone improve their prioritization.

Alternatives to Coaching

Instruction: Allot no more than three hours a week to corporate activities. If someone asks you to do something that would exceed three hours, come talk to me.

Feedback: When you respond to my emails within five minutes, I worry that you’re putting your priorities on the back burner. How can I add something to your radar without it becoming an urgent priority?

Advice: Over the years, I’ve learned that Bob makes everything sound urgent. Let him know you’ve received his request and tell him when you’ll schedule it.

Positive Consequences: You chose to work on the ACME presentation first, and because of that, it got the time and attention it needed to be really strong. I let my boss know it was your good work.

Negative Consequences: You chose to work on the ACME presentation first, which isn’t due until after the Omega proposal. Now we’re behind schedule, and I’m going to have to ask you to stay late to get back on track.

Evaluation: In your work this quarter, you’ve demonstrated that you understand the criteria for assessing the importance and urgency of work and delivered the most critical projects on time. This was especially obvious in how you managed the ACME and Omega projects simultaneously. It’s also worth noting that the things that slipped were things we could easily compensate for and didn’t create any material risks. I’m rating you as exceeds expectations.

As a manager or a coach, you have an excellent opportunity to hone people’s prioritization skills. They’ll thank you for it.

Additional Resources

How to Structure Your Time Better

Why You’re So Busy and How to Ruthlessly Prioritize

From HBR Josh Davis Teach Someone to Prioritize Using Psychological Distance

 

 

 

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