The 80/20 Principle

Does it sometimes feel like you have many goals and believe you only achieve a small fraction of them?

Focus on a few of your goals and give all of your energy… which tasks have the ‘biggest’ impact on learning at school?

The 80/20 rule:

A colleague once said to me 'work smarter not harder'. This is a great piece of advice and links directly to this rule.

The 80-20 rule is a principle that states 80% of all outcomes are derived from 20% of causes. It's used to determine the factors (typically, in a business situation) that are most responsible for success and then focus on them to improve results.

“This principle, in essence, states that 80% of an outcome comes from 20% of its causes. It explains how small actions, a small group of people, events or elements are responsible for a disproportionately large percentage of a result.“

This principle may appear in our own lives in a few different ways:

• Most businesses likely have a handful of stellar employees who contribute an enormous amount of benefits to the company. 

• From your entire product range, there often may be one or a small number of offerings that create the most sales.

• You likely wear a small percentage (20%) of your wardrobe most of the time.

https://www.forbes.com/councils/theyec/2021/07/01/how-to-set-goals-and-learn-faster-with-the-8020-principle/

Some benefits of using the 80/20 principle include:

• Reduction of time spent procrastinating

• Greater productivity

• More effective leadership with your team

• Increased in your self-confidence

• An efficient use of resources

• A wider range of problem-solving skills

• Enhanced decision-making skills

• Consistency in your working approach

Use these steps and key tools when applying the Pareto Principle to problem-solving. You can even create a Pareto diagram to help you visualise the details of the problem and see the possible solutions:

1. Analyse the problem, write down a brief overview.

2. Create a list of problems you are facing in your situation.

3. Determine what is causing each problem, particularly the main cause.

4. Give a score to each problem by listing them in order of importance. Those that are impacting your progress the most are the most important ones (the 20 percent) to solve first.

5. Organize your list of problems in groups according to those that have the same causes.

6. Add up the scores in each group. The group that has the highest score is your highest priority.

7. Start brainstorming solutions to this problem group and take action.

   
   

How could you apply the 80/20 principle in school?

• Staff Meetings and actions to be taken?

• Timetabling?

• Action plans?

• Lesson Observations?

• Feedback and assessment?

• Professional Development sessions...

Staff Meetings

A further look into what could be changed or adapted for greater outcomes.

1. Files emailed ahead of the meeting to look at and then use meeting time to discuss the issues.

2. Have less people attend, only the ones that are needed.

3. Stocik to action points

4. Use action points instead of writing minutes throughout

5. Stick to a routine

6. Meeting agenda emailed out ahead of the meeting and staff raise items so the use of time is effective.

   
   

Over time these habits and routines will become embedded within your team and further across your organisation. Once you’ve identified the tasks that give you the most gains, put this approach to the test. Plan a week where you only focus on your 20% – the most valuable tasks, and track your results. This will give you proof of concept so you’ll know if the tasks in your 20% margin are actually the most valuable or if they need to be dropped in priority. Finding your 20% of tasks is an ongoing process and there are many ways to prioritise and organise these.

When you start to adopt the 80/20 rule, you will have more time left over – work quality, efficiency and overall productivity will be higher.

#schools #education #britisheducation #britishschools #educators #teachers #leaders #students #internationalschools #teaching #CPD #Professionaldevelopment #learning

Published by Dr. Paul Walton. @paultwalton

Principal, Educator, Leadership Coach.