The Important Jobs

Who defines for you which jobs are important and which jobs aren't?  Honestly - is there a rating system that defines what is mor important to be done?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  Especially not for managers. 

One key task of a manager is to figure what is important in their role.  There are few set ratings or 'star-system' for measurement (unless you have these as KPI's).  However I think we can create categories that define broad aspects of our work.  Those catagories look a little something like this -

1. People - internal.  I value internal people higher than externals.  Many would disagree but as a manager I believe we should be coaching/working with/empowering our people first so then they can go and serve the external people.
2. People - external.  External persons are not just customers but any person who is not in your department, office or area of influence.  People are the most crucial aspect of a managers role.  get the people part of things right and you are well on your way to success.
3. Compliance - internal.  Sticking to the rules and ensuring that the requirements of the organisation are met.  Creating budgets that balance, updating project management reports, customer interaction reports.  They are all important.
4. Compliance - external.
5. Any tasks not already covered above.

No single area is not as important as another area but there is a hierarchy.  When the internal people know what to do and when that frees you up to deal with customers external and the compliance issues and requirements of your role.




There are very few unimportant jobs in an organisation.  What defines a task as being important or not is the emphasis you place on it.