Small Leadership Shifts With Big Impact: Shift One – Stop Adding. Start Prioritizing.
By Laura Gramling – Founder & President
Real results don’t always come from a bold new initiative. More often, they come from leaders changing a few everyday habits: what they choose to focus on, how they listen, how they communicate, and where they look for momentum.
Small Leadership Shifts With Big Impact is a four-part series exploring practical shifts any leader can start making right now to create greater clarity, alignment, and momentum.
These aren’t sweeping organizational transformations. They’re intentional changes in how you lead every day. And sometimes, a small shift in leadership can have a much bigger impact than adding another initiative, process, or priority.
Shift One – Stop Adding. Start Prioritizing.
Most organizations don’t have a strategy problem. They have a subtraction problem.
Organizations are very good at adding.
A new priority emerges. A new opportunity presents itself. A new initiative gets approved. Another goal makes its way onto the strategic plan.
But what gets removed?
Too often, the answer is nothing.
Quarter after quarter, priorities accumulate while teams continue trying to deliver on everything that came before. Eventually, people are stretched across a dozen supposedly critical priorities, each receiving only a fraction of the attention, energy, and resources it needs.
When everything is a priority, nothing really is.
And when leaders don’t make the tradeoffs clear, teams are forced to make those decisions themselves. People choose what gets their attention based on what feels most urgent, which stakeholder is asking the loudest, or what deadline is closest.
The organization may be busy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s moving in the direction leaders intended.
Make the Shift: Create a Stop-Doing List
Instead of asking your team what else needs to happen this quarter, ask a different question:
What can we stop doing?
Identify three things your team can pause, shrink, delegate, or end. They might be outdated processes, low-impact meetings, legacy projects, redundant reports, or initiatives that simply don’t support your most important goals anymore.
Then communicate those decisions with the same clarity and intention you would give a new launch.
Because prioritization isn’t just deciding what matters most. It’s creating the space to actually do it well.
A Question for Your Team
If we could accomplish only three things this year, what would they be, and what are we willing to let go of to get there?
Sometimes the most powerful leadership move isn’t adding something new. It’s deciding what no longer deserves your attention.
Ready to Create More Focus?
Knowing what to prioritize, and what to let go of, can be difficult when you’re deep in the day-to-day demands of the organization.
EnSpark helps leadership teams step out of the noise, get clear on what matters most, and turn those priorities into focused action.
If your team is ready to create greater clarity, alignment, and momentum, let’s start the conversation.
About the Author
Laura Gramling has the experience and expertise to help you transform your organization in an AI-driven world. Together with her talented team, she builds on the strengths of your people to help them embrace the future with confidence. Laura approaches every client engagement knowing that each person brings a unique and vital perspective — unlocking a greater collective willingness to move forward.
With over 20 years as a change, leadership, and performance consultant, Laura has guided organizations across industries including higher education, tech, and pharma. She is an expert in organizational performance, meeting design and facilitation, and navigating complex change.