Essential Small Business Tools

A Priority Matrix is a great management tool that should be in every business owner’s toolkit, and it provides an easy way to start sorting things out. For those not familiar, the goal is to figure out how to get the biggest bang for the effort spent.

Draw a box divided into four quadrants. On the left side, you will measure how important something is, and across the bottom you will measure how easy it is to get it done. Each thing to be prioritized is then given a spot somewhere on the matrix (don’t get overly caught up in the analysis – the important thing is to put a pin on the board). When you are done, you will find that the goals or projects that have high impact/importance and are easy to accomplish are the ones you want to focus on – take that set and run through the exercise again if needed to identify your Top Priority. The rest should then line up to be addressed when resources become available.A Priority Matrix is a great management tool that should be in every business owner’s toolkit, and it provides an easy way to start sorting things out. For those not familiar, the goal is to figure out how to get the biggest bang for the effort spent. Draw a box divided into four quadrants. On the left side, you will measure how important something is, and across the bottom you will measure how easy it is to get it done. Each thing to be prioritized is then given a spot somewhere on the matrix (don’t get overly caught up in the analysis – the important thing is to put a pin on the board). When you are done, you will find that the goals or projects that have high impact/importance and are easy to accomplish are the ones you want to focus on – take that set and run through the exercise again if needed to identify your Top Priority. The rest should then line up to be addressed when resources become available.