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Festina Lente - "urgent" or "important"?

Written by: Douglas Long

Article Overview: In my mentoring I am surprised at how frequently I need to remind executives, managers and entrepreneurs of the need to concentrate on what is important. Concentrating on what is “urgent” invariably leads to crisis management with the result that the organisation degenerates into continual crisis. Because the “important” gets pushed back things get out of control. To change the metaphor, the bush fires rage uncontrolled because proper fire prevention was not done in a timely fashion.

Festina Lente - "urgent" or "important"?

From my very long ago days of doing Latin at school, I seem to remember the phrase "festina lente" as meaning "hasten slowly" or "more hurry less speed". (I may, of course, be wrong in my recollection and, if I am, I'm sure someone will correct me!!)

I thought of this today because of a couple of events.

First I listened to an interview on Australia's ABC FM radio in which the person being interviewed (John Wood from San Francisco) was telling of his commitment to increasing literacy in third world countries. He explained that, now, his organisation is opening a new library somewhere in a third world country every 4 or 5 hours. An incredible rate given that it is only about 10 years since he first became aware of the issue and committed himself to action. He said that he was an action-orientated person who looked for solutions rather than dwelling on problems. But he also pointed out that from first realising the size of the problem to actually getting things properly moving was about a year. Since then things have grown rapidly. Festina lente !

Second I was approached by someone who is trying to get a new business up and running. She is worried about the need for positive cash flow (aren't we all!!) and has been running around everywhere trying to get business. The result is that she has lost focus on what she really wants to achieve and runs the risk of failing because of confusion regarding priorities. We discussed how taking a step back and refocusing then moving forward in a planned approach would actually help her achieve desired results far more effectively than scattering her energies across a broad range of things.

It's the old question of deciding between "what is urgent" and "what is important".

Too often we concentrate on "what is urgent" with the result that "what is important" never gets done and we wind up with time management problems, quality problems, staffing problems, and all the rest.

Part of creating an environment in which everyone can be successful - ie part of leadership - is recognising and applying the need for "festina lente" !

This is particularly the case with people who want to achieve results in the shortest possible time. Under these circumstances unless you have a very clear focus on your core business right from the outset and unless all your energies are directed towards this, it is very easy to fail.

Let me give an example.

During the global financial crisis, Paul was made redundant after many years with a major manufacturing company. At the time of his redundancy he was national manufacturing manager for the group, responsible for the operations of 3 factories in Australia. Events around the gfc led the company to move its manufacturing operations to Asia which meant most of the Australian workforce would become redundant.

Paul's lifestyle reflected the high income he had been earning - he had recently moved into a larger home (with a significant mortgage) and he still had 2 children at private schools in a major city. Aged in his mid 50's Paul realised it was going to be difficult to get another position with comparable seniority and remuneration so he decided to invest his redundancy pay into starting up a new operation. Paul lacked formal academic qualifications but he had plenty of experience and a track record of providing the results sought by his employers. He knew that his expertise could help smaller manufacturers operate more effectively and efficiently.

Having made the decision and done some basic planning, Paul let his extensive network know that he was now "a consultant" and took every opportunity to develop and follow leads. With his reputation, requests for assistance were not long in coming and before long Paul was busier than he had ever been before - mainly with small operations. These requests came from all around Australia and New Zealand. In addition his previous employer decided to use him as a consultant to their new Asian operations. Suddenly he was working or travelling 20 hours a day and was away from home virtually all the time. Within a few months some serious problems started to become apparent: he was getting very little rest, and losing touch with the bigger picture. His health deteriorated and, while in Vietnam, he collapsed with a coronary. Some weeks later he was back at work but he had learned his lesson - he is now focused on work within a relatively small geographic area and he is ensuring he has time for himself, his family and for relaxation.

Paul was lucky. He came close to death and business failure because he concentrated on what he saw as "urgent" - obtaining the cash flow necessary to maintain his lifestyle and give a cushion against any downturns. He lost sight of what was "important" - building an on-going business and maintaining contact with his family and himself.

In my mentoring I am surprised at how frequently I need to remind executives, managers and entrepreneurs of the need to concentrate on what is important. Concentrating on what is "urgent" invariably leads to crisis management with the result that the organisation degenerates into continual crisis. Because the "important" gets pushed back things get out of control. To change the metaphor, the bush fires rage uncontrolled because proper fire prevention was not done in a timely fashion.

When you're caught up in constantly dealing with crises, its very hard to stop and deal with the important. With Paul it took a serious coronary and a near death experience before he "found time" to do what he knew should be done.

Some questions that are worth asking when confronted by "the urgent":

• What's the worst thing that could happen if I don't deal with this now?
• On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being high), how serious would that be for my business?
• If the worst did occur, how could I recover from it?
• If I deal with this to the detriment of "important" things, what is the worst that could happen?
• On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being high), how serious would that be for my business?
• What is the cost-benefit analysis?
• Given that I am now alerted to the dangers of dealing with "urgent" rather than "important", how can I reorganise things so that I get "the important" done and minimise the probability of "the urgent".

Related Articles
  Four Square Organizer
  How to Prioritize
  Urgent or Important? Learn to Prioritize
  Why do we put off the really important things?
  How Important Is Your Urgent?

Article Tags: crisis management, effective leadership, effective management, mentoring, prioritising



Related Forum Posts
Re: How do you make the most of your day? - Hi Tanny, This is an interesting thread you've started. My daily schedule runs through a weekly cycle and also a term/holiday cycle, and the Internet business side depends on my own energy and focus!! How many of my tasks I get done also depends on how many orders or customer enquiries need to be dealt with... I make a To Do list, usually over breakfast. The list is almost always longer than the day! Last year I read Stephen Covey's "7 Habits" and liked the idea of the four types of activity: urgent/important not urgent/important urgent/not important not urgent/not important The aim is to get as much time as possible for the "not urgent/important" category and cut out nu/ni altogether. He also recommends planning for a week. I do keep a weekly schedule, but I don't fill in all the non-teaching etc hours with my projects because too much "stuff" comes up, so I keep to a daily To Do list.
Re: What works for you? - Hi Yinka, I work better under pressure of deadlines when I am doing something for other people. However, I like to have the leisure to develop my own projects. The first case is what Stephen Covey calls a "Quadrant 1" activity ("Important and urgent") whereas the second case is a "Quadrant 2" activity ("Important, not urgent"). We should aim to make as much time as possible for Q2 activities so that we can develop our own projects. Easier said than done!
Re: Non-profit Organizations - I helped set up a non-profit charity for helping stray pets and people who had lost their pets in our local area last year. There are so many things I learned from the experience, I'm not sure where to start. First of all, I hold to the teaching if you can dream it, you can do it! In one way, it was incredibly easy to find support for something we were so passionate about. On the other hand, our passion needed to be tampered with reason so that we didn't burn ourselves out. It is so important to set things in order as soon as possible. There should be an official board of directors and at least general protocols set in place for key services. Expectations among board members should be clear. Keep non-urgent decision making to during meetings only! Otherwise, you will be working 24 hours a day! And make sure you use your volunteers as soon as you get clarity on your first steps. Clarify your message as a whole before you take it to the public. Otherwise, you will create confusion on what you do or don't do. It was really helpful to connect with other organizations in the area who had a similar mission. In our case, we met with the SPCA so we could avoid doubling up on services and instead fill in the gaps of what they were unable to provide in our area. Fundraising IS important, but make sure you are keeping up with the services you offer. The mission of your organization is the priority. In a nutshell, setting up a charity was a great experience, but I certainly didn't need to work as hard as I did. I plan on doing it again in about 2 years where I will set up a charity to help women in both Canada and Third World countries.
Re: I need a mailing address for office space in Toronto - But if you had a mailbox in Toronto, who would manage the mail? Wouldn't that require a service to also open and read your mail? For instance, if could be an urgent issue, bill or complaint that is time sensitive in nature.
Finances - Having the finances to use is very important. I've learned that its equally important (and for some people more important) to learn to budget and manage the money that comes in and goes out. Chris


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