Managing Conflicting Priorities

Keeping People Satisfied

Pam's client needs her to complete a project by the end of the week. The problem is, she

has another, more urgent project that she needs to finish for another customer. There's no

way that she can finish both projects on time.

So, how does she tell her client that his project isn't as urgent as the other one she's

committed to? And how can she do this without damaging their relationship?

Like Pam, many of us have situations where several people or teams are clamoring for our

urgent attention. In this article, we'll look at a common-sense approach for managing

conflicting priorities and for keeping everyone satisfied.

When Priorities Clash

You probably already know what happens when you have conflicting priorities.

First of all, the quality of your work can suffer as you work more quickly or multitask, or you

may find yourself delivering work later than you promised.

Or, you might work very long hours to get everything done. Although this may prove effective

in the short-term, it can lead to increased stress and lower performance.

This means that people who depend on you are disappointed, which affects your reputation

and your working relationships. This can then lead to you missing further opportunities down

the line, such as interesting new projects from your boss, or additional purchases from your

clients.

How to Manage Conflicting Demands

So, how can you manage conflicting demands more effectively, and keep everyone happy?

1. Schedule Work Effectively

Your first step is to clarify your current priorities and to manage your schedule effectively.

This helps you know what you can do and when, so that you can negotiate deadlines

credibly and manage people's expectations when they come to you with new projects.

Where you can't squeeze a task into your schedule, an obvious thing to do is to delay

activities that are not urgent, or are not particularly important.

Sometimes, however, it may not be clear what your highest priority tasks and projects are. If

this is the case, there are several tools that can help you prioritize effectively – see our

article on prioritization for more on these.

One of the most useful prioritization tools is Eisenhower's Urgent/Important Principle. This

helps you decide whether a task or project really does need to be done right now.

Once you've assessed your priorities, it can help to check these with the project-owners,

such as your boss and your clients. Does your assessment of priorities match with theirs?

Then put your tasks and projects on your To-Do List or Action Program and add them to

your schedule. You'll then know which tasks clash, which tasks you may need to negotiate

new deadlines for, and where you'll need help to get things done on time.

Prioritize new tasks and projects and add these to your schedule, as and when they come in.

Also, review your priorities on a regular basis.

Tip 1:

You can learn more about prioritization in our Bite-Sized Training session, How to Prioritize.

Tip 2:

Take our How Good is Your Time Management? quiz to find out if you can improve your

personal productivity.

2. Negotiate Deadlines

Once you've clarified your priorities, look at your responsibilities and identify any deadlines

that you need to re-negotiate.

Sometimes this might be as simple as saying "I'm working on a project for Jack that he

needs by noon. Can I get this to you by five?" Other times, you may need to push a deadline

back by a few weeks, or negotiate delivery of a project in smaller chunks.

To negotiate effectively, use Win-Win Negotiation to ensure that everyone comes away from

the negotiation feeling that they've reached a fair compromise.

At this stage, you may find it useful to explain why you've ranked your priorities the way you

have, and you may want to highlight the consequences of not rearranging deadlines. (This

won't be appropriate in all cases: one customer won't appreciate you pushing her projects

back so that you can complete a report for another client.)

3. Manage Expectations

It's also important that you manage people's expectations before you take on new tasks.

For example, if you're having a meeting with your boss about a possible new project,

communicate your current priorities with her, and agree a completion date based on your

current workload. Or, if you've just started working with a new client, let him know if there's

likely to be a time lag before you can take on new tasks.

It's also important to manage expectations on any tasks or projects that you're working on.

For instance, if you've slipped behind schedule on a project for a manager in another

department, let her know that you may have to deliver it later than planned. However, you

clearly don't want to make this a habit – learn how to estimate time accurately so that you

set realistic deadlines, and ensure that you've done everything that you sensibly can to get

the project back on course (including working late) before you talk.

4. Be Professional

It can be stressful to juggle people's priorities and expectations. This stress can leave you

feeling frazzled, and it's tempting to relieve the tension by snapping at others, ignoring

deadlines, or feeling sorry for yourself.

This is where it's important to be professional. Your professionalism, especially during times

of intense pressure, is what best demonstrates your character to those around you.

Also, learn how to manage your emotions effectively, even when you're overloaded.

5. Be Flexible

Lastly, it's important to be flexible: there may be times when you won't be able to re-

negotiate deadlines or delegate tasks to other people.

So be prepared to put in extra work, if appropriate, to keep people satisfied. Just make sure

that this doesn't happen too often.

Defending Your Priorities

When you have to reprioritize tasks and projects, there will be times when other people

disagree with your choices. If this happens, try to negotiate a new deadline that works for

both of you. If they keep insisting that their project or task is more important than the one you

need to work on, then you need to learn how to defend your priorities, ideally without

damaging your relationship.

For example, imagine that you've just told your colleague that you can't finish a report until

tomorrow, because your boss has asked you to complete a task that will take the rest of the

day. However, she's not letting this go, because the report she needs will take just 30

minutes of your time. In her eyes, you're being unreasonable.

Start by showing empathy. Communicate to her that you understand why she feels frustrated

or upset.

Then, explain your needs clearly but assertively. For instance, reiterate that you must

complete your boss's project by 5:30. You need to keep the promise you made to your boss,

so it's essential that you devote your attention to this task.

Once you explain your needs, work on reaching a compromise such as offering to work on

your colleague's report first thing tomorrow, or offering to help her with another task later in

the week.

Tip:

Our article "Yes" to the Person, "No" to the Task offers additional strategies that you can use

to assert yourself, while maintaining a good relationship with your colleagues.

ey Points

Many of us have conflicting demands, where several people or teams are clamoring for our

attention. It's important to know how to manage these demands effectively, so that everyone

is happy.

Start by clarifying your priorities and scheduling work effectively. Then use appropriate

negotiation strategies to rearrange deadlines.

Also learn to manage people's expectations effectively, be professional even when you're

under pressure, and be flexible – there may be times when you will have to put in some

extra work to keep people satisfied.

When you need to defend your priorities, show empathy, but be assertive in your approach.