Many people have heard of the Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 Rule.
- In sales, 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients
- In client services, 80% of a company's complaints come from 20% of its customers
- In finance, 80% of profits come from 20% of products
The applications go on
So what does this have to do with productivity?
The Pareto Principle creates focus. It is where you get the most "bang for your buck" as the saying goes. The clients, the products, the processes, and activities are no different.
The 20% of activities that deliver 80% of your results are known as your HIGH-PAYOFF ACTIVITIES or HPAs. The goal for all of us is to spend the maximum amount of time on HPAs—those specific actions and activities that contribute the most to results.
Getting the RIGHT things done is being effective. Getting them done with the least amount of energy or resources and in the right order is being efficient. HPAs are about being efficient.
In his classic book, 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey described this process as "putting first things first." You need to self-manage to organize and execute around your priorities. Those key activities he called "Quadrant II Activities—Not Urgent, but Important.” Here we call them HPAs.7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey described this process as "putting first things first." You need to self-manage to organize and execute around your priorities. Those key activities he called "Quadrant II Activities—Not Urgent, but Important.” Here we call them HPAs.
So how do you find your HPA's?
Your HPA's are the specific things you do each day to ensure the success of the organization. They answer the questions:
- Why am I here?
- What do I get paid to do?
- How do I best contribute to the organization?
Step 1: Start with confirming your job description and priorities with your manager. This ensures alignment at least one level up. It will help if you also have some well-defined short, medium, and long-term SMART goals you develop with your manager as well.
If you are the boss, make sure you have someone to help you develop your goals.
Step 2: Using this information, write the specific actions you will be performing. Use ACTION verbs to articulate your steps so that it is clear whether you are completing the action or not.
For example, if you are a sales person, your #1 HPA is spending time face to face with clients and prospects. It is clear to you whether you are in front of a client/prospect or not. If you are a trainer, your #1 HPA is conducting training. Seems simple, but it must be very clear whether you are engaged in that activity or not.
Write down 5-10 clean, clear, simple sentences with an action verb on your HPA funnel. Start with what you need to do for the week.
Step 3: Prioritize the HPAs you listed. What is the first most important thing you need to do this week? What is the second? What is the third? And so on.
If you are a leader, these should appear in this list:
- Planning & Organizing
- Goal Setting
- Delegating
- Training
- Coaching
Step 4: Seek to delegate items that make you busy but aren't the most important activities you could be doing. If you get to the end of a day or week and say, "I was super busy, but got nothing done,” you fell into the LPA trap.
The flip-side of the Pareto Principle is 80% of our activities produce only 20% of our results. These are low-payoff activities or LPAs. A great leader will self-manage, have discipline, and establish the routine to regularly plan their day and week. They will constantly question whether they are engaged in HPAs.
As a leader, you must become obsessive and work with your team to ensure they understand their HPAs and are doing them, and that they are not engaging in "busy work.” You must get them the resources they need and remove obstacles as well as distractions.
If you and your team document in writing your HPAs and discuss regularly how they contribute to higher performance and goal achievement, it gets much easier to say "No" to LPAs, busy work, and distractions.
Imagine if you and your team now spent 30% of your time on HPAs instead of 20%, or even 40 or 50%—your productivity and performance would explode!
