You Pick Two: How to Find Focus in Complexity

Vince Lombardi said, “Success demands singleness of purpose.” And he was absolutely right –– the fastest way to get a lot done is, paradoxically, to do less. Of course, for that to work, you actually have to know what you’re doing. And with 93% of employees saying they don’t understand their company’s strategy, and fewer than 40% saying their managers give them clear priorities, the seemingly simple singularity of purpose suddenly looks a lot harder to come by.

That’s why we’re so conscientious about maintaining focus at PointNorth. There’s an endless list of to-do’s, a limited amount of time to do them in, and everything matters. While this makes for fun and engaging work, we know that if we want to maintain a sustainable cadence, we can’t do everything.

How do you square that circle of having a number of first priorities? You pick two.

We have started a “You Pick Two” policy at PointNorth, inspired by the simplicity and focus framing of the Panera Bread menu. (Hey, you take inspiration where you can get it!) And, as simple as it sounds, it’s been instrumental in our success as we’ve transitioned from a scrappy, fast-moving startup to a stable business with a reputation for punching far above our weight.

Every quarter, we pick two things to focus on: one internal, and one external.

Only those two things. Every single thing we do in our non-billable hours that quarter must tie back to these two things, or we don’t do it.

It forces us to prioritize, to think about what’s really going to move the needle that quarter, and what might sound great, but isn’t the most important thing we could be doing. It’s hard to get down to those two things, and the temptation to squeeze “just one more little thing” in on the list is strong, but adding that one tiny little thing has an exponential impact, and we’re not willing to reduce our performance with that kind of clutter.

Now, does this mean we all do this perfectly, and work in lockstep? Absolutely not.

We still have our slipups from time to time, and it’s a constant exercise in focus to keep ourselves to that standard of just two things. But even though we’re not perfect at it, the simple fact that we have to keep coming back to this standard over and over again makes a huge difference.

What’s more, a business is only as powerful as the diversity of talent among the team, so our You Pick Two focus isn’t meant to turn us into a monoculture, but rather, to make it easy for each of us to see how our talents can line up with those two objectives.

This helps us accomplish more, since we’re able to put all of our energy into two things, instead of eating the costs of task-switching, and because we don’t have to continually double-back on ourselves to make sure everybody’s on the same page. What’s more, it gives us a clarity of strategy that’s invaluable for engagement and productivity. This might sound like something everyone just inherently knows, but as PwC found, most employees have no idea what their company’s strategy is. If we don’t take the time to make this explicit before we dive into the hustle and bustle of work, how can we possibly expect things to go as well as they could?

But ... but ... but ... how do you choose?

When everything is important and urgent, of course it’s hard to just choose two. Which is where your values come in. They’re the ultimate tie-breaker, and everything comes back to then. What do you stand for? What’s your True North? (Not quite sure how to articulate yours? Just wait for our updated values sort to go live in February 2024!)

When you give voice to your values as an individual, team and organization, you can use it to inform your decision-making about what your two priorities are for the quarter. And, if you find yourself continually setting priorities that seem to be at odds with your stated values, then you’ve got some valuable information about where your values actually lie.

So my question for you is, what are your two for Q1 24?

Do you know? And if so, are you absolutely sure that your team knows too? If you haven’t had a meeting explicitly talking about it, chances are they don’t. Need a little help with giving voice to your values and setting your organization’s North Star reach out, we are here to help!