Knowing What NOT To Do

In this Fast Company blog entry, on "Leading Ideas: Know What NOT To Do:

"A client of mine uses a powerful tool to help his executive team decide what not to do with their time. He has each member keep a pie chart of where his/her energy is focused. When new projects come along, they discuss how sections and percentages should shift. "You've got to know where your energy should and shouldn't go each day," he explains. "Sometimes it's obvious and sometimes it's not. We've found explicitly talking about it every few months helps. Team members tend to feel more empowered in what they're doing and are more successful as a result."

BOTTOMLINE: From an organizational perspective, Discipline I-F, Agree What To Stop (Six Disciplines for Excellence, pages 76-79) helps each Team Member to understand what projects/initiatives to stop applying energy / resources to.

More importantly however, is Discipline IV-D, Prioritize Daily (pages 161-163). If you wait to do it "every few months" as suggested above, performance goes unchecked and alignment deteriorates rapidly.