Prioritizing is all about getting things in the proper sequence. In teamwork, that doesn’t simply mean that the biggest tasks are the most important. It’s about sticking to goal. It’s about coordinating tasks, planning ahead for supplies, and making sure no one is waiting when they could be working. If someone has to wait, it’s not the most expensive person on your payroll.

I was watching a program a few days ago about a team that was building an electric plant in another country. They were plagued with rain, causing massive time delays. At one point, several tons of steel were delivered to the job site and one crew stacked it precisely where the next crew needed to work. When the second crew showed up to bring the job back up to speed, the entire crew was put on hold while the steel was moved. The trickledown effect was enormous.

Yes, stacking supplies in the wrong place can be monumental. I have worked on job sites where a particular pile of material would be moved several times because the supervisor was not thinking far enough ahead of the curve. How about when you’re racing to a deadline and the entire project comes to a halt because supplies were not ordered far enough in advance? Knowing what has to be done next, projecting time tables, and managing workers are all skills that must be developed by the effective leader.

When planning a project, we have what we bring in a Project Planner. The Project Planner takes every possible complication into consideration. We invite the entire team into a planning meeting and everyone brings their ideas and explains their part. But that isn’t the hard part. Actually, the person who can do all of this should be a facilitator. When all the information is gathered, it is the leader that prioritizes every step of the project.

A major element of prioritizing is planning and organizing resources. Organizing resources involves knowing and obtaining resources so that they are available when needed. If resources are ordered too soon, finances are unnecessarily tied up. If you are paying interest on those resources, then every day they sit it costs you more to complete your task. Another important aspect of ordering resources is warranties. If resources are ordered too far in advance, and are then discovered to be faulty, the warranties or period of return may have expired. Thousands of dollars can be lost by simply ordering materials too soon.  Read Entire Article