Prioritizing Tasks: 10 Steps to Help Your Teams Get Through Their Work

Few aspects of routine work are more challenging than prioritizing tasks. Should you begin your working day by catching up on emails and updating reports, or focusing on that bigger project that requires strategy rather than quick actions?

A 2024 study by Reclaim found that over 98% of surveyed professionals reported struggling with prioritizing their workload. This stat indicates that this struggle shows no sign of going away.

In this article, we’ll show 10 actionable steps HR leaders and managers can take to guide their teams—whether they are remote, hybrid, or in-office—toward smarter, logic-driven prioritization.. 

Before you start prioritizing tasks, you must acknowledge the logical nature of prioritization. Of course, people work differently, with some being more impulsive or routine-driven than others. However, only a straightforward, rational process will keep you and your team on track toward more efficient collaboration, free from chaos, and ready to achieve impactful results.

When using logic, you weigh urgency, deadlines, dependencies, and available resources to make informed decisions.Managers can help by showing how tasks connect, creating space for deep work, and applying clear decision criteria. For example, initiatives with big organizational impact should come first. Be logical to prevent confusion, align expectations, and enable smoother teamwork.

There’s no truly efficient prioritization without visibility. Have your teams write down 100% of the work on task lists, including deliverables, touchpoints, dependencies, and thinking time. Those lists must live in a shared system, like a text document, a spreadsheet, or a project management tool, to prevent silos and ensure everybody is on the same page regarding priorities. 

Also, ensure the lists shared by employees follow a consistent format, with elements such as:

• Actionable title: Begin with a verb (e.g., “Prepare Q1 budget draft”).
• Due date: Note the desired timeline.
• Effort estimate: Use hours or metrics like S/M/L.
• Impact statement: Show how it supports team or company goals.
• Owner / collaborators: Define who is responsible and involved.

A helpful add‑on for your task list is adding a “parking lot” to keep optional ideas visible without crowding the active list. 

The next step is to teach your team to apply a method—a consistent set of rules so that choices are defendable, repeatable, and easy to audit. Below are four proven approaches commonly found in workplaces: have your teams assess them according to their needs and choose the best fit. Another approach is to mix and match different methods, for even greater precision.

This idea was popularized by Mark Twain’s quote: “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning.” It suggests that you begin your working day with the hardest task—your “frog.”

For instance, a marketer’s frog could be “Finalize campaign messaging with Creative Director,” not “Read Slack notifications.” The first accelerates downstream work, while notifications rarely change results.

Why this method works:

• Overcomes delay: Tackling the hardest task first removes the biggest barrier and makes the rest of the day easier.
• Prioritizes focus: Reserves your peak energy for the work that delivers the most critical results.
• Exposes weak lists: If the main “frog” isn’t clear, it means tasks need sharper definitions or better impact / effort details.

The four levels of task prioritization are common in many workplaces, and they were introduced by the Eisenhower Matrix. This model divides tasks into four quadrants of importance:

1. Q1 = Urgent and Important: Critical deadlines and incidents. Do these first.
2. Q2 = Not Urgent and Important: Planning, capability building, and stakeholder alignment. Schedule these with intention.
3. Q3 = Urgent and Not Important: Workplace interruptions and some admin. Delegate, minimize, or set boundaries for these.
4. Q4 = Not Urgent and Not Important: Distractions that should be eliminated.

Why this method works:

• Promotes clarity: Sorting by urgency and importance prevents reactive decision-making and highlights what truly matters.
• Improves time use: Ensures valuable time isn’t wasted on low-impact tasks.
• Supports delegation: Identifies tasks that can be reassigned, freeing leaders to focus on strategic work.
• Reduces stress: Helps workers avoid overwhelm by categorizing distractions as low or eliminable.

Through this method, you’ll label each task with a letter to highlight trade-offs:

• A = Must do: Serious consequences if not done.
• B = Should do: Important, but lower consequence.
• C = Nice to do: Optional improvements.
• D = Delegate: Someone else can do it effectively.
• E = Eliminate: No longer adds value.

To avoid confusion, rank items in order of priority within each letter (e.g., A-1, A-2, A-3, and so on). For example: For an HRBP, “Close compensation review for sales” is A‑1 (due to deadline and high consequence), “Draft ER training outline” is B‑1, “Refresh onboarding slides” is C‑1, “Collect benefits FAQs” is D‑1 (to be delegated to a coordinator), and “Migrate old notes” is E-1.

Why this method works:

• Encourages discipline: Letter grading forces clear trade-offs between critical and optional tasks.
• Builds accountability: Ranking within each letter (A-1, A-2, etc.) removes ambiguity and ensures consistent focus.
• Supports long-term efficiency: Explicitly eliminates low-value tasks that sap resources.
• Enhances delegation: Separates work best handled by others, strengthening team capacity.

One of the most common methods for prioritizing tasks, Agile brings prioritization into a structured cadence. Rather than carrying an endless task list, teams operate in short sprints (e.g. one to two weeks) that each have a committed scope. Key elements of this method are:

• Backlog grooming: Maintain a single, ordered backlog visible to everyone.
• Sprint planning: Select the highest‑value items based on business goals and capacity.
• Daily stand‑ups: Surface blockers early.
• Retrospectives: Improve the system, not just the work.

One valuable tip from experienced Agile users is to adopt a WSJF system (Weighted Shortest Job First) or a simple Impact ÷ Effort score. For WSJF, compare the economic benefit of delivering now versus later, then divide by job size. This favours quick wins with outsized value.

Why this method works:

• Drives adaptability: Frequent planning and retrospectives help teams pivot quickly to changing priorities.
• Boosts transparency: Shared backlogs and stand-ups make workloads visible and progress measurable.
• Maximizes impact: WSJF and impact-effort scoring focus energy on the highest-value outcomes.
• Encourages collaboration: Regular check-ins surface blockers early, reducing delays and rework.

Turning priorities into calendar commitments makes them real. Encourage employees to block top-priority work—such as frogs, Q1, and A tasks—during their best energy hours and save routine items for quieter times. A weekly rhythm might look like this:

• Map constraints: Meetings, deadlines, personal limits.
• Block deep-work windows: Two to four sessions of 60–120 minutes for A tasks.
• Batch maintenance: Handle email and admin in grouped blocks.
• Add a buffer: Leave 10–20% free for unexpected events.
• Daily reset: Prep the next day’s frog in advance.

This step links directly to “eating the frog,” as mentioned earlier. Schedule demanding, high-impact work early when energy is highest. Quick wins still matter, but heavy lifts should anchor the week.

To measure effort, estimate hours, dependencies, and cognitive load, then pair them with expected impact. A task that takes eight hours with a significant organizational impact should be prioritized over a minor task that takes only half an hour.

For example, writing a compliance report that requires coordination across departments should begin Monday morning. Use midweek for collecting data and end the week finalizing. Small jobs, such as formatting slides, can fit into this structure.

Even when an employee claims to thrive when multitasking, managers should be aware that this practice can fragment attention and lengthen delivery times. Instead, encourage focused work with boundaries. Some single‑tasking practices that can help teams and individuals are:

• Focus window: Work in 30–90 minute sessions on one goal.
• Silence inputs: Pause notifications and set status alerts.
• Batch tasks: Handle similar items together (e.g. review all proposals, then send all updates).
• Use a capture pad: Note ideas quickly without leaving the main task.
• Decline “quick questions:” Those interactions can distract from relevant work in deep-work hours.

Balance ambition with capacity. Build norms where people openly raise constraints and honestly weigh trade-offs. Helpful practices include:

• Right-size commitments: Limit in-progress Q1 or A tasks to one per person.
• Add buffers: Keep 10–20% of time for unplanned issues.
• Timebox perfection: Cap polishing time to encourage delivery.
• Negotiate openly: If new urgent work arrives, agree on which existing priority should be delayed.

Teams succeed when their priorities align with their unique rhythms and constraints, like different time zones, on-call schedules, or dependencies on other functions. Managers must identify and understand those factors early in the prioritization process, and then establish:

• Flow of work: Where requests come in and how they’re triaged.
• Skill inventory: Who excels at what, and where training reduces bottlenecks.
• Work-in-progress limits: How much each person can realistically carry.
• Measurement criteria: Use diagnostics like cycle time (from ideation to completion) or percent of time spent on quarterly work.

Individuals can sort their own lists, but cross‑functional work only goes well when teams agree on the sequence, owners, and definitions of “done.” To that end, encourage collective decision-making so teams know what to finish and in what order. Some of the best techniques are:

• Backlog grooming: Re-evaluate weekly with impact notes and effort ranges.
• Capacity planning: Publish available hours so the scope aligns.
• Decision logs: Record why one task ranked above another to guide future shifts.

Also, agree on a common scale of prioritization levels to reduce confusion and streamline handoffs. One option is “Critical / High / Medium / Low,” which ensures consistency across functions. That way, “High” means the same thing whether you’re in Operations or Finance.

Progress must be transparent. Provide updates on what’s finished, ongoing, and blocked, and remember that more digestible resources, like dashboards and concise summaries, work better than lengthy reports. Best practices include:

• Weekly status pulse: Use a single slide or short note with clear categories.
• Escalation path: Flag blockers lasting more than a day for manager support.
• Stakeholder updates: Tailor details by audience—executives need outcomes, peers need timelines.

Also, whenever priorities shift, be sure to always explain why things are changing. Linking those changes back to logic (impact, timing, or resources) reinforces trust and prevents churn.

Prioritizing tasks doesn’t mean doing more: it means focusing on what matters most.

Teach employees the benefits of logical prioritization and introduce them to best practices. With clear task lists, frameworks, structured schedules, and close collaboration, the result will be sharper decision-making, improved performance, reduced stress in the workplace, and stronger alignment with business goals.

If you’re planning a layoff and struggling with your own priorities, consider offering outplacement services to your employees. Careerminds’ modern approach helps you to manage events effectively while supporting departing staff and protecting morale. Contact us today and explore how Careerminds can support your organization’s needs.