Eisenhower's Decision Matrix (#194)
Due to the popularity of last week’s blog post on General Dwight Eisenhower’s ideas on leadership, it is worth looking at another of Eisenhower’s ideas that can improve your effectiveness and efficiency as a leader right now — Eisenhower’s Decision Matrix.
Background
Dwight D. Eisenhower was one of the great people of the 20th century. Born in Texas in 1890 and raised in Kansas, he attended West Point where he played football. As an infantry officer in the Army, he was an excellent planner and staff officer, serving under Generals John J. Pershing, Fox Conner, Douglas MacArthur, and Walter Krueger. After Pearl Harbor, General George C. Marshall called him to Washington where he developed the war plans for the United States Army in World War II. He did such a good job as a planner he was selected to command the Allied Forces during the amphibious landing in North Africa in November 1942, Sicily in 1943, Italy in 1943, and on D-Day — June 6, 1944. He led the Allies across Europe as the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force until Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945.
In the months leading up to D-Day, Eisenhower was confronted with hundreds of decisions to make as the Supreme Commander. When and where to commit the invasion force? Would there be enough landing craft available? How to best deceive the Germans as to the time and location of the attack? How to best utilize the resources available to the Anglo-American invasion force? How to best employ the strategic bombing assets? When and if to use airborne forces? How to best expand the lodgment area once the beaches had been secured? Whom to appoint to lead the invading forces? How to keep the French and General DeGaulle onboard? How did Eisenhower sort through these decisions and hundreds of other, lesser decisions? What tool did he use?
Leading the Allied Forces in Europe in World War II taught Eisenhower a few ideas on decision making, efficiency, and effectiveness. Some of those ideas eventually helped create the Eisenhower Decision Matrix, a tool used by many leaders today.
Eisenhower Decision Matrix
Soon after Eisenhower became President of the United States, he gave a speech at Northwestern University. There he said “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” This quote led to the development of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix. One of the first places the matrix appeared was in Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Since I am a consultant, I love quad charts. And, of course, Eisenhower’s decision matrix is no exception. The Eisenhower Decision Matrix use a simple process for taking action and organizing your tasks. Using the decision matrix below, you would separate your tasks and actions into four groups based on the four possibilities:
Urgent and important — Tasks you will do immediately.
Important, but not urgent — Tasks you will schedule to do later.
Urgent, but not important — Tasks you will delegate to someone else.
Neither urgent nor important — Tasks that you will eliminate.
Not sure what the difference is between important and urgent? I think that important tasks are those things that move us forward towards accomplishing our goals, values, and long-term projects. On the other hand, urgent tasks are things that you believe you need to react to: emails, phone calls, texts, news stories, twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. They may not be helping you towards your long-range goals.
Separating these differences is simple enough to do if you have the time and energy to apply to it. However, trying to do so continually, without a system or process, can be tough. The Eisenhower Decision Matrix is simple and flexible enough to be applied towards big plans such as “How should I spend my time each week?” and for smaller, daily plans like “What should I do today?” It also helps you get rid of tasks. Finally, the Eisenhower Decision Matrix provides a clear framework for making the decisions over and over again.
The Eisenhower Decision Matrix isn’t perfect. But, it is a solid a decision-making tool that helps you focus on the truly important stuff, increase productivity, and get rid of things that are time wasters.
Conclusion
Like Ike? Want to read more about him and his leadership? Then try these two blog posts:
Ike’s 8 Characteristics of Leadership
Want even more? If you’d like some more ideas on how to improve yourself take a look at my book, Grow Your Grit, available for sale at Amazon. Or reach out to me here to start the discussion about executive coaching or group coaching opportunities.
Go on the offensive and use Eisenhower’s Decision Matrix to make you more efficient and effective in 2022.