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820. The Cost of Constant Urgency: When Everything Becomes a Priority · Daily Influence

• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IA Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
• 0:32
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• 0:38
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• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hey everybody, Brian Smith here with the I'm team series and your daily influence and today I'm going to talk about urgency not real urgency we all have moments where something genuinely requires immediate attention I'm talking about the kind of urgency that becomes a way of operating everything is important everything needs to happen today every email needs and immediate response.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: every new idea becomes the next priority and whatever landed on the leader's desk, most recently suddenly becomes everybody's problem.
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have worked in organizations for 30 years and I have watched this happen more times that I can count in fact.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It happens in our own organization with a number of our team leaders.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: It happens with our clients.
• 1:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Eventually, people stop managing priorities and start managing
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: And here's what I think leaders sometimes mess your urgency influences everyone, around you.
• 1:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: If everything you bring up to your team feels like a fire, eventually you create an organization full of firefighters.
• 1:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And so today I want to talk about the cost of constant urgency and why responsible leadership requires us to distinguish between what needs our attention,
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: and what actually deserves our priority.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Something demanding your attention doesn't automatically make it important.
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: A customer problem may be urgent.
• 2:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: A safety issue may absolutely be urgent.
• 2:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: A deadline can become urgent.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are legitimate situations where we need to move quickly.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there are also emails, ideas, requests, meetings and problems that feel urgent simply because they're happening right now.
• 2:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: that's different.
• 2:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: One of the disciplines within smart management is creating enough clarity around what we're trying to accomplish that we can evaluate new information against existing priorities.
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: So ask yourself, does this change what we're trying to accomplish?
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Does something actually need to move?
• 2:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what happens if we don't address this today?
• 3:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if I make this the new priority,
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That last question really matters because we sometimes act as though adding that priority doesn't have a cost I went through this just today people thinking that it's less expensive to do something internally than if we did it externally not thinking about the cost but there is a cost and every time you move something to the front of the line something else moves backwards.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Leadership isn't simply deciding what needs to get done.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Leadership is deciding what matters most right now.
• 3:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is where influence enters the conversation.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: As leaders, we set the emotional temperature around us.
• 3:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I send an email at 9 o'clock at night, does somebody believe they need to answer it?
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: If I walk into an optics excited about a new idea, does a team suddenly believe yesterday's priorities have changed?
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Trust me, they do, by the way.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: If every problem bought to me gets an immediate reaction and my teaching people to solve problems or teaching them to escalate everything to me.
• 4:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes the chaos we're frustrated by is chaos we've helped create.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I have lived in that world and I try to hold myself responsible
• 4:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's an important self-awareness question for every leader.
• 4:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Am I reacting to the organization or is the organization reacting to me?
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our influence is always on.
• 4:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your pace influences somebody else's pace.
• 4:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your anxiety can become somebody else's anxiety.
• 4:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And your lack of planning can become somebody else's
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: emergency, responsible influence, requires that we recognize that.
• 4:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't mean leaders should move slowly, at which they move slower, but it doesn't mean we have to move slowly.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are times when speed is absolutely a competitive advantage, but speed with direction is very different from motion created by anxiety.
• 5:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And this is where we have to become more intentional.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: If everything can become a priority at any moment, then we don't
• 5:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: we have reactions in smart management asks us to create clarity.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: What are we trying to accomplish?
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Who owns it?
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: How will we measure it?
• 5:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when does it need to happen?
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: How does it connect to the larger objectives in our organizations?
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that gives people something against which they can evaluate the next interruption.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when something genuinely urgent appears, we can consciously reprioritize.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can say this is changed.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's why it matters.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's what we're moving.
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  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's what we're delayed.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And here's what success now looks like.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's very different from
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I need this as soon as possible.
• 6:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: One creates clarity, the other creates chaos.
• 6:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're leading an organization, a department or just a project, or frankly even just yourself, don't let the loudest thing in the room automatically become the most important thing in the room.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Priority requires choice and choice requires discipline.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: So here's my challenge for you today.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: is it genuinely urgent?
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it important?
• 6:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or is it simply the thing that has your attention right now?
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you're a leader, take it one step further.
• 6:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ask yourself whether your behavior is helping your people understand priorities or constantly forcing them to guess which priority you're going to change next because your urgency has influence.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your reactions have influence.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the environment
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: has influence.
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't need organizations that move slowly.
• 7:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: We need organizations that know when to move quickly and why.
• 7:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Your influence is always on.
• 7:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Make it positive, make it responsible.
• 7:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Find your influence, be that influence and build it.
• 7:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'll see you next time on daily influence.
• 7:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have a great day.