Want the tool? Download the Matrix for free at GEM Learning Consultants’ website. And connect with Shannon Ciccotelli and Meg Daniele on LinkedIn — we’re always happy to nerd out on strategy.
Ask a room full of training professionals what movie title best describes their job, and someone will inevitably say it: Everything Everywhere All at Once. From rollouts to compliance, leadership programs to tech launches — we touch every department, every initiative, every corner of the brand. We are, in the most literal sense, everywhere.
And that’s the problem.
You start every planning year with a clean roadmap. It’s organized. Strategic. Thoughtful. And then January happens. Marketing needs a training. IT is launching something. And an executive just walked up with an idea that “should be pretty simple.” You say yes — because you’re collaborative, because you’re helpful, because you want that seat at the table. And by Q2, you and your team are a beautiful, well-intentioned mess.
Here’s the truth nobody says out loud: you don’t have a prioritization problem. You have a visibility problem. You can’t prioritize what you can’t see. And most of us are so busy doing the work, we’ve never stopped to actually look at all of it. Mastering the art of “not now” starts there — with making the invisible visible, asking four honest questions, and building a plan that finally reflects reality.
See Your Work. All of It.
The first move is deceptively simple: write down every single project your team is working on this year. Not just the official ones. The ones that got dropped in your lap at the last all-hands. The refresh nobody budgeted for. The “quick thing” that is decidedly not quick. All of it. One project, one line.
When you see it all together, something shifts. Training touches everything — every department, every initiative, every nook and cranny of the brand. Seeing it visually stops it from being a feeling and turns it into a fact. It gives you language, leverage, and the ability to have smarter conversations about capacity and focus. That list doesn’t just show how busy you are — it shows how valuable you are.
Not No. Just Not Now.
Once the work is visible, you can start asking the harder question: how much of this actually matters? Not in a feelings way. In a data way.
Run each project through four straightforward questions: Will it significantly improve guest experience or business outcomes? Does it need to happen this year? Does it require outside expertise? And if it doesn’t launch — will guests notice? The answers stack up into a score that quickly sorts your work into what is high priority, what is important but flexible, and what is a nice-to-have that can wait.
Notice something about those questions: two of them put the guest at the center. That’s not an accident. In hospitality, our entire purpose is to serve people. When we lose sight of that in our planning, we end up building programs that serve the org chart more than the operation.
Fair warning: this is where it gets uncomfortable. Some of the projects you’ve been most excited about — the ones you’ve been talking about for years — may not make the cut. And you’ll have to sit with that. Maybe we kept talking about them because we liked the conversation, not because they were ever truly a priority. Maybe some of our passion projects are serving only us, and not the broader organization. The framework doesn’t care about your feelings — and sometimes, neither should your strategy.
But here’s the reframe: deprioritized doesn’t mean never. It means not now. And “not now” is not a failure. It is a strategy.
“This brought on some relief. I can’t wait to implement this planning strategy.”
Know Who’s Carrying What.
Knowing what matters is only half the battle. The other half is knowing who’s actually doing the work — and whether the load is distributed in a way that makes any sense.
A RASCI model brings this to the surface fast. For every project, you assign who is Responsible (doing the work), Accountable (answering for the outcome), Supportive (helping execute), Consulted (the expert), and Informed (needs visibility but not involvement). It sounds like a simple exercise. What it actually does is hold up a mirror.
Are one or two people carrying everything? Are there projects with no real owner at all? Are you picking up the slack on work that should belong to someone else entirely? The RASCI doesn’t give you all the answers — but it absolutely forces you to ask the right questions. And once you can see the imbalance, you can do something about it. That’s the difference between feeling overwhelmed and being able to articulate exactly why.
Put It On a Calendar That Respects Reality.
The final piece is time. Start with what can’t move — your holidays, peak seasons, major launches, blackout periods. Those are anchors. Then layer in your projects in order of priority. What happens naturally is your most critical work gets front-loaded. Not because you planned it that way, but because the system does the thinking for you.
Build buffer into every few months. Scope creep is real. Business interruptions are real. Q4 is always, always chaotic. A calendar with breathing room isn’t a sign of underperformance — it’s a sign of wisdom. And when Q4 arrives with its inevitable fires, you’re not scrambling. You’re ready.
One of the most powerful things a mapped calendar does is give your team something they rarely get: a view of the finish line. They can see the heavy stretches. They can see the breathing room ahead. Celebrating completions becomes intentional instead of a blur of boxes getting checked. And when someone comes to you mid-year with “can you just add one more thing?” — you point to the calendar. The calendar answers for you.
“Even seasoned leaders will find new insights from using models to highlight stakeholders and business impact.”
Strategy Is Not About Doing More.
Here’s what this whole process actually gives you — and it’s more than a tidy spreadsheet. It gives you the ability to walk into any conversation about capacity, resources, or priorities with proof instead of pleading. It gives you the language to push back on departments that have been dropping projects on Training and disappearing. It gives your team clarity, ownership, and the relief of knowing that not everything has to happen right now.
We work in an industry where the pace is relentless and the asks never stop. The training professionals who thrive aren’t the ones who say yes to everything — they’re the ones who know exactly what to say yes to. Strategy isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right things, with the right people, at the right time — and having the data to back it up.
Master the art of not now. Your work — and your team — will be better for it.
This article was inspired by the breakout session by Shannon Ciccotelli and Meg Daniele at CHART 109 New Orleans.
“This was an amazing session. I got more than expected and learned a few things I didn’t know I needed. Thank you so so so much!”
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