Step 3: Evaluate Continuously

Get Lean

When crisis hits, the first thing you need to do is pare down your organization’s goals and priorities to the 3-5 that are the most mission-critical.

When uncertainty surrounds our professional and personal lives, things become less familiar and less predictable. And when things become less familiar and predictable, each task takes significantly more time to complete. As a result, you simply can’t take on — much less accomplish — as many things as you once could.

Take, for example, what happens when people are forced to work from home or really any new location. Meetings are clunkier, internet is slower, and files aren’t as handy. Some experts estimate that people are about 40% less efficient when they first begin working remotely.

It’s human nature to try to keep all the proverbial plates spinning. Unfortunately, it just can’t be done.

You might be able to keep pace for a period of time, but before long you’ll be giving maximum effort and falling further and further behind. Biting off more than you can chew can result in a downward spiral.

This is why we need to quickly zero in on what’s essential and what’s not. To counteract the potentially catastrophic consequences of having too many priorities and too few resources, you’ll need to make some very bold and immediate adaptations.