The Pareto Principle (80/20) in Leadership

The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) states that (as a general principle), roughly 80% of the effects or output come from 20% of the causes or input – this applies to leadership as well.

In the context of the workplace this can be translated to

80% of the responsibility and work are shouldered by only 20% of the employees
80% of the results are achieved with 20% of the tasks or projects
20% of your clients/contacts create 80% of your problems, other 20% create 80% “revenue” – which ones would you focus on?
80% of results are achieved in 20% of the time
80% of learning and development comes from 20% of learning situations
…

In the context of leadership, this can mean

20% of your time (at least) should be spent on leadership, (maximum) 80% on management (is there a difference?)
20% time spent on leadership leads to 80% of the (wanted) leadership results
In leadership situations, listen 80% of the time, speak only 20% (examples are development talks, interviewing candidates, receiving feedback)
80% of ideas should come from your team, 20% should come from you
80% of your focus should be spent on the “right” 20% of the people (and those are not the low performers!)
20% of you projects bring 80% of the revenue/reputation – identify the right ones!
only 20% of your decisions are really really important and have leverage, give the other 80% to others (this is a micro-management reminder)

…

The list of examples here and also in private life can get very long. Core message is, that identifying the right 20% in your leadership role has an enourmous impact on the quality of relationships, productivity and results.

What are “the right” 20% on leadership?

Just a few ideas:

• listen
• give quality time
• prepare a talk with your team member
• ask the right (personal) questions
• plan, create and follow-up on development paths (especially of the high performers)
• give feedback
• build a team
• laugh together
• recruit the right people

More

The 70:20:10 or 3 Es of Learning and Development

The Pareto Principle on Wikipedia