Sparked Vol. 050 – Ignite your Team by Effectively Scrutinizing To-Do Lists

Published on November 22, 2024

We deliver Sparked every-other-week, focusing on what drives organizational culture and engagement. This newsletter is for leaders who are ready to get intentional about bringing their team together, building engagement, and harnessing the power of culture to build high-performing teams that drive remarkable results. Sign up here to get every edition of Sparked delivered straight to your inbox.

Ignite your Team by Effectively Scrutinizing To-Do Lists

Scrutinize (verb) – to examine closely and minutely

When was the last time you sat down 1:1 with a team member to scrutinize their to-do list?

Not in an intrusive way, but in the spirit of effectively adjusting, reprioritizing, adding, or removing work to ensure they were working on the right work at the right time with the right priority level so they could drive the most impact with their time and effort?

My observation in talking with leaders every day is that the effective scrutinizing of to-do lists doesn’t happen enough.

When done well, leaders support their team members by scrutinizing (and properly adjusting!) their to-do lists to help them navigate barriers, stay on track, and prioritize high-impact work. 

The ability to refocus team members on high-impact work positions them to deliver the right work at the right time—and positions team members to feel like their skills, talents, and efforts are directed at their highest and best use.

Looking for ways to fire up your team members and build a high-performing culture?

Effectively scrutinize to-do lists. 

Why Effectively Scrutinizing To-Do Lists Builds Engagement

Effectively scrutinizing to-do lists builds engagement because it fosters clarity, prioritization, alignment, and impact, all of which are critical to team and individual success and in turn, engagement.

Leaders who consistently help team members scrutinize their to-do lists help their team members avoid being overwhelmed as task lists mount and individuals struggle to prioritize.

Additionally, impact driven is becoming more and more of a priority for today’s workforce. Clarifying with team members on their highest impact to-dos not only sets them up to drive their biggest impact more frequently, but it sets the team up to deliver on its purpose more significantly as well.

Recentering, refocusing, and clarifying what’s important and what’s not drives engagement.

Engagement grows when team members see and feel meaningful impact from their contribution.

Take Action to Effectively Scrutinize To-Do Lists

Still trying to figure out where to start? Here’s how to take action today:

• Resurface Outcomes of Success: Hopefully, you helped set organizational, team, and individual goals and outcomes of success. Keep those goals and KPIs present and relevant when scrutinizing what needs to be worked on, when it needs to be completed, and when it can be removed. The desired outcomes driven should always guide how priorities are created.

• Cut High Effort, Low Impact Work: Remove high effort, low impact work on any to-do list. It sounds simple, but I guarantee high-effort, low-impact work is happening on your team. That work is costly in so many ways. Identifying this may be difficult to do but this is where leaders can create the most margin and value for their team members.

• Clarify Priorities: If everything is urgent, nothing is urgent. Leaders must help their team members build a hierarchy around what’s on their plate. Get clear on the work at hand, when it has to be delivered, and what’s most important to prioritize effectively.

• Revisit and Refine Constantly: Effectively scrutinizing a to-do list is not one-and-done work. Build this muscle with your team members by working through their to-do list at least twice per month. Doing so with regularity keeps them on track, teaches and develops their skill set, and builds independence around the ability to scrutinize effectively on their own.

Further Exploration on Effectively Scrutinizing To-Do Lists

• The Eisenhower Matrix: How to prioritize your to-do list
• If everything is urgent, your leadership may need a hard reset
• How to Focus on What’s Important, Not Just What’s Urgent