A Coaching Tool to Achieve More With the Time You Have
These days we’re all managing multiple competing demands on our time, so how would you like achieve more with the time you have? Well, here’s a really practical tool for your coaching toolbox to help you and your clients identify and focus on the tasks that give you the most bang for your buck.
Who is the Action Priority Matrix for? It’s a great tool for executive, career and small business coaches, and anyone who works with stressed, overwhelmed clients who need help getting things done.
So how does it work? The Action Priority Matrix uses a grid to define tasks according to their effort and impact:
How to Use This Tool With Clients:
- Decide whether to assess tasks for the upcoming day, week or month.
- Ask your clients to DRAW a square and divide it into quadrants, labelled according to the image above.
- Ask your client to evaluate and add their upcoming tasks to the appropriate quadrants.
- Highlight anything with a deadline.
- Finally, review and discuss with your client e.g. What percentage of time do they spend in each quadrant? How might they like to spend their time differently?
Let’s take a more detailed look at the individual quadrants.
Quadrant 1: Quick Wins (LOW Effort, HIGH Impact tasks)
Time is most productively spent to get big results for as little effort as possible. Help your client focus on these tasks first; sometimes this in itself is enough to make a HUGE difference to someone’s productivity.
Coaching Tip: What tasks feel or seem HIGH effort, but can actually be completed quickly? (eg. a task they’ve been putting off like a phone call or booking a meeting/appointment).
Watch out for: Don’t get sucked into doing “quick wins” and avoiding work on bigger goals.
Quadrant 2: Big Projects (HIGH Effort, HIGH Impact tasks)
This quadrant is where most of us should be spending a large part of our time.
Coaching Tip: Set aside larger chunks of uninterrupted time to really focus and be productive on these high effort activities.
Watch out for: Sometimes high effort tasks become time wasters when tasks feel daunting (we avoid getting started or distract ourselves while doing them). So, ensure tasks are broken down into easily do-able chunks.
Quadrant 3: Filler Tasks (LOW Effort, LOW Impact tasks)
The name of this quadrant gives away where these tasks best fit into our schedules.
Coaching Tip: Use filler tasks to make use of 15-30 minute gaps between meetings or to have a break from bigger tasks. Also, use filler tasks to stay productive when you’re feeling low energy.
Watch out for: Sometimes filler tasks literally fill up our days. So, do them just before you have a place to be e.g. lunch, a meeting, going home – or set a timer so you stay focused.
Quadrant 4: Hard Slogs (HIGH Effort, LOW Impact tasks)
If a task falls into this category, we don’t ask if the task is necessary, but ask instead how the task can be avoided altogether!
Coaching Tip: If this task has to be done ask, “Who else might enjoy this task, could do it faster or could you delegate to who would benefit from the experience?” Also, how could you bring fun to it (e.g. add music) or reward yourself when it’s done?
Watch out for: Sometimes hard slog tasks really drain us. If you can’t delegate this task, break it into smaller, more attractive actions and take regular short breaks.
“We realize our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities. We confess, we have left undone those things that we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” Charles E. Hummel
In Summary: The essence of this simple but powerful tool is to identify and focus on our quick wins as well as minimizing and avoiding altogether the rather pointless hard slogs. If only life were always that easy!
Final Thought: If you do nothing else after learning about this tool, why not spend 5 minutes a week brainstorming your Quick Wins – and make these a priority when planning your time!
Emma-Louise Elsey (Canada)
Emma-Louise Elsey has been coaching for more than 10 years and is founder of The Coaching Tools Company and Life Coach on the Go. Originally a project and relationship manager for Fortune 500 companies, she discovered coaching in 2003 and hasn't looked back.
The views and opinions expressed in guest posts featured on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the International Coach Federation (ICF). The publication of a guest post on the ICF Blog does not equate to an ICF endorsement or guarantee of the products or services provided by the author.
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What a cool tool… So many organizing tools incorporate this type of information gathering in formats that are cumbersome. This tool is simple, logical, and instantly useable. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Deb,
Thanks! So glad you found it useful – I love finding and sharing, or creating, exercises that help people. I use this concept a lot in my own task organizing too!
Warmly, Emma-Louise
Really good tool this, it will help people realise that different task require different efforts and have different impact. Essential when prioritizing.
Hi Mourijn,
Thank-you! I use these concepts all the time to help me prioritise tasks. Glad you like it.
Warmly, Emma-Louise
Love this graphic. Very relevant and value-laden. Thanks so much for posting!
Dear Judy,
Thank-you! Great to hear that you found the graphic/concept helpful! I personally love it!!!
Have a wonderful (focused, low effort and high impact) 2015!!!
Warmly, Emma-Louise
[…] Priority Matrix Tool. For more information on the Action Priority Matrix and how it works – see our Action Priority Matrix article on the ICF Blog […]
Thanks Emma-Louise, as you promised this coaching tool is indeed powerful in its simplicity, as well as extreamly efficient and effective.
Thank-you so much for taking the time to say so 🙂 Warmly, Emma-Louise
Все гениальное — просто!
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Мы в сети.
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Dear Emma
Thanks for explaining the tool lucidly. It is apparently a great one to achieve efficiency.
Perhaps, exemplifying it, like listing a day’s work (adhoc) and then allocating them into different squares would have further elucidated the concept.
Nevertheless, it’s an effective method.
Regards,
Gangs
Hi Gangs, yes this is a great suggestion. We have a limited number of words to write articles – so I do my best to pack in what I can 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to comment! Warmly, Emma-Louise
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thank you Emma that was useful article 🙂
So glad you found that helpful!
We offer a brandable version of this form to use with clients (or for yourself) here: https://www.thecoachingtoolscompany.com/products/action-priority-matrix/
You might also like the Urgent-Important Matrix.
Warmly, Emma-Louise