Map ideas by effort and impact to set priorities.
Which of your ideas and projects should take priority? Which will offer the best return for the least resources? If some of your ideas look great but seem hard to achieve, can you simplify or streamline them so they take less resources or effort?
Using a flipchart or large piece of paper, a large plus sign is drawn with Easy at the top, Hard at the bottom, Low Impact on the left and High Impact on the right. Participants write each idea, project or ambition on its own post-it and place it on the matrix according to how easy or hard it will be to achieve, and how high or low its likely impact. Once everything is mapped, the group discusses trade-offs, dependencies and actions. Which ideas are obvious priorities? Which need more resource or momentum? Which should be parked or dropped entirely? The exercise builds alignment as much as it organises thinking: teams often leave feeling clearer, more confident, and with a shared understanding of where to focus next.
This approach is great for working out priorities, identifying strengths and making decisions. Teams find it really useful to get clarity on what's worth working on first, and what has the greatest potential.
With the strategic direction now set, use this exercise to agree what to focus on first. People map each initiative onto an easy-to-hard, low-to-high-impact matrix, individually at first, then discuss the clusters and agree the top few to take forward.
With the strategic direction now set, the group has a number of implications, actions and initiatives on the table. This exercise creates a shared view of what to focus on first.
Draw a large cross on a flipchart or whiteboard. Label the vertical axis easy at the top down to hard at the bottom, and the horizontal axis low impact on the left to high impact on the right. Ask people to write each initiative or priority action on a separate post-it note.
Ask each person to place their post-its on the matrix independently, without discussion, reflecting their own view of how easy and how impactful each initiative is. Doing this silently first stops early voices anchoring the whole group.
Look at where the post-its cluster. The key conversation is the top-right quadrant, high impact and relatively achievable. For each item there, ask whether it is genuinely achievable or whether you are underestimating the difficulty, and what "easy" depends on. For items in the top-left, easy but low impact, ask whether they are worth doing at all or are displacement activity. For items in the bottom-right, high impact but hard, ask which are worth pursuing over a longer timeframe and what would need to be true to make them achievable.
Agree the top three to five initiatives to take forward. Each should be specific enough to start within the next 30 days and significant enough to move the strategy forward, and each needs a named owner before it leaves the room.
Use Easy High Impact when a team has a list of ideas or initiatives and needs to agree priorities. Mapping each one by effort and impact makes the obvious quick wins and the high-value bets clear, and sets up an honest conversation about what to do first.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
