chaosAs you and your team members start your days by walking through the office doors or for remote associates, logging on, can everyone connect the top priorities on their “To Do” lists to the strategic priorities of your firm?

Surprisingly, in both live settings (show of hands) and anonymous surveys, a majority of mid-level and front-line managers and their employees have no qualms admitting to me that they cannot pass the “Walk in the Door” test.

In essence, a good number of people lack clear context for prioritizing initiatives and making decisions.  They are left to guess about what’s most important to the firm, and this opens up the door for countless and costly mistakes in project and activity selection and time investment.

The cause of this mass failure on something so fundamental as understanding and connecting activities to priorities sits squarely on the shoulders of top management however, that’s not an excuse for you to ignore the problem.

It’s on your shoulders to ask questions, seek answers and ultimately translate your insights into critical context for your team members. Easy words, a challenging task, but one that you must take on in pursuit of passing the “Walk in the Door Test.”

Remember, it’s simply not acceptable to waste people’s time and the firm’s resources in pursuit of meaningless tasks.  Arm your team with context and help the step through the door every day with a strong sense of purpose!