Put First Things First

Published on Thursday, October 01, 2009
ARTICLES

If you've been feeling like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off, reviewing your priorities may provide the relief you need. The Goldwater Institute is always a work in progress, but we've found the following 10 guidelines helpful for smoother organizational sailing. Though this article is written with the executive in mind, the guidelines below are applicable to all members of a public policy organization.

Learn about it

You may not want to return to school for a degree in organizational management, but you can easily grab some books. Read The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker and Good to Great by Jim Collins. Find a mentor from a more experienced organization whose advice you can seek in confidence. Be a continual learner.

Set personal goals

Setting personal goals for your time and accomplishments is as important as setting goals for the organization as a whole. After all, you have particular skills to contribute to the organization, and abilities that can be gained, improved and refined. Want to master public speaking or meet 100 important people in the community? Write down your goal and work toward it. I'm a fan of setting priorities annually, choosing just one or two big goals, and then working toward them throughout the year.This will inspire your team to do the same.

Put first things first

Plan your day - don't let circumstances plan for you. You could spend 24 hours a day responding to incoming calls and acting on the hundreds of interruptions coming at you from every direction. Don't! Set your priorities and block out the required time. Been meaning to write that succession plan for the Board's review? Still drafting your long-term business plan? Set aside 2 hours every day, block out Mondays, set aside afternoons...but set the goal, plan your time, and get down to business.

Shut your door

Open door policies feel good, but nearly all of us need uninterrupted blocks of time to do our best thinking. Shut your door, post a "please come back after 1:00 p.m." note, and work on your priority. There is no one who can't wait a couple hours to speak with you, whether it's the governor calling or a reporter on deadline.

Use the 1-minute rule

Email overload! A friend shared a few email rules with me that we've found helpful. Read a message just once, answer it or file it where it belongs. If you don't have an email filing system, look online for some quick tips. Most messages can be answered in under a minute, so don't linger. Longer emails that require thoughtful input can be set aside until you are ready to complete them during a time you have scheduled for returning email, making calls and the like.

Create a board and staff you can't live without

The best coach in the world doesn't get to the Super Bowl solo. In the Goldwater Institute's early years, it had more than 70 board members and a highly involved executive committee that reviewed research before it was distributed. Imagine the challenge of publishing timely commentaries - let alone blogging or tweeting.

At that time, the Institute was also struggling to raise resources, and there was a general recognition that its structure needed improvement. With support from past chairs and active directors, we revised the by-laws so Goldwater would resemble a private business model with the CEO charged with the Institute's day-to-day operations and the board charged with executive and fiduciary supervision. The Institute now has about a dozen board members and directors generously provide foundational funding.

We believe it is important to respect the members' time and not involve them unnecessarily in matters of little interest. For us this means updating the board on the progress of the mission and finances so they can exercise their fiduciary responsibilities, but not involving them in decisions about the next direct mail piece or event.

As Goldwater chairman Tom Patterson puts it, "A well functioning board operates through consensus and trust, not primarily through motions of the board." When the team is strong, everything goes well naturally.

Establish division goals and track progress

Each year we set overarching goals for every area of the Institute, with some mid-year fine-tuning. If you're a one-person shop, you probably set the goals yourself or solicit help from your board. If you have a larger team, directors certainly are well positioned to set goals for their respective areas.

In addition to setting annual goals, Goldwater holds a monthly all-staff meeting where each person briefs the team on his or her accomplishments and current projects. We also find smaller team meetings helpful. Our communications and development teams meet weekly to plan stories for the week and to touch base on major events and meetings. Our research and litigation teams meet monthly to discuss progress, plans and strategy. Developing planning and tracking processes like these improves internal communication and keeps us on track toward our goals.

Go 80/20

You'll never get a touchdown playing defense. We have a half-dozen school choice laws because of tenacious, concentrated, offensive work. We could have spent all of our time analyzing the Governor's plan to give every first grader a new book or critiquing the Superintendent's laptop initiative - we didn't. Those are distractions.

Our rule of thumb is to spend 80 percent of our time advancing our priority issues, and 20 percent analyzing issues that pop up. This means we neglect some important issues, but we can't be all things to all people.

If a Request for Proposal comes to our attention that fits a fundraising goal, but not a research goal, we take a pass. Avoid soliciting or accepting resources that don't further your priorities.If you want a touchdown, focus.

Admit failure

Sometimes we fail. The Goldwater Institute had a project that it had successfully solicited support for that 100 percent flopped. We shared the disappointing news with the donors, returned the remaining funds and stopped the program. Don't waste resources on anything that doesn't bring extraordinary value to your organization or its mission.What dead-duck programs are you hanging on to?Try this exercise: Ask each of your team members to identify one weak activity or failing project the organization should cut loose.

Invest in whats works

A few years ago, we started emailing the Goldwater Institute Daily, which has spread like wildfire. It's a punchy, mini-editorial on a timely issue. They are regularly quoted by legislators and reprinted as a whole in newspapers. One editor told us they've become as important as his "daily coffee." Regular op-eds don't pack this punch, so we concentrate on improving the Daily, and spend less time on longer pieces. Don't just keep doing something because that is the way it has always been done.What are your most successful programs?

Yes, it's easy for staffers at all levels to fall into the common trap of letting distractions dictate their day.But you can't serve and lead effectively if you're neglecting to set the vision and execute the key projects that are uniquely yours to undertake. Decide today that your team is best served when you take time to set and meet your goals and put first things first.

Darcy Olsen is president of the Goldwater Institute. She can be reached at dolsen@goldwaterinstitute.org.