How Time Planning Training Is Useless in Poorly-Run Organizations

Stop Teaching People to “Organize” When Your Business Has Zero Idea What Really Is Important: Why Priority Management Training Fails in Poorly-Run Organizations

Let me about to destroy one of the most common false beliefs in corporate training: the idea that teaching workers improved “task management” methods will solve efficiency challenges in workplaces that have zero clear priorities themselves.

Following extensive experience of working with organizations on time management issues, I can tell you that task organization training in a poorly-run organization is like instructing someone to sort their possessions while their house is currently burning down around them.

Here’s the core reality: nearly all companies experiencing from efficiency crises cannot have efficiency challenges – they have management problems.

Conventional task management training believes that companies have clear, stable objectives that workers can be trained to understand and focus with. Such belief is entirely disconnected from reality in nearly all current workplaces.

We consulted with a large communications company where staff were repeatedly complaining about being “unable to prioritize their responsibilities properly.” Executives had spent hundreds of thousands on priority planning training for all staff.

The training covered all the usual approaches: priority systems, task classification approaches, schedule organization techniques, and detailed task organization applications.

Yet performance continued to drop, worker overwhelm levels increased, and project delivery results became more unreliable, not improved.

After I investigated what was genuinely happening, I learned the underlying issue: the company itself had absolutely no clear direction.

This is what the normal situation looked like for staff:

Regularly: Executive leadership would communicate that Project A was the “top priority” and each employee needed to focus on it as soon as possible

The next day: A another senior executive would distribute an “critical” message declaring that Client B was actually the “most essential” focus

Wednesday: Yet another team leader would organize an “immediate” session to announce that Client C was a “critical” deadline that needed to be finished by immediately

The following day: The first executive executive would express frustration that Client A had not been completed enough and require to know why people had not been “prioritizing” it properly

End of week: All three projects would be behind, several deadlines would be not met, and employees would be blamed for “poor time organization abilities”

That pattern was occurring constantly after week, regularly after month. No level of “task planning” training was going to enable workers manage this systemic dysfunction.

Their core challenge wasn’t that employees couldn’t understand how to manage tasks – it was that the company at every level was completely incapable of maintaining consistent priorities for more than 72 hours at a time.

I helped leadership to scrap their concentration on “personal time planning” training and rather create what I call “Strategic Direction Systems.”

In place of attempting to teach employees to organize within a chaotic environment, we focused on building actual strategic direction:

Established a unified leadership leadership team with clear power for establishing and maintaining company direction

Implemented a structured initiative assessment system that occurred on schedule rather than constantly

Established specific standards for when projects could be adjusted and what type of sign-off was necessary for such modifications

Created enforced communication systems to make certain that all focus adjustments were shared systematically and uniformly across every teams

Implemented stability periods where absolutely no project modifications were acceptable without emergency justification

Their transformation was immediate and dramatic:

Worker frustration instances decreased dramatically as employees finally understood what they were expected to be working on

Efficiency increased by over 50% within 45 days as staff could really focus on finishing projects rather than constantly switching between conflicting requests

Client completion schedules got better significantly as staff could plan and complete projects without continuous disruptions and re-prioritization

External happiness increased significantly as work were consistently delivered on time and to specification

The reality: before you train employees to manage tasks, guarantee your leadership really has stable priorities that are suitable for focusing on.

Let me share a different method that time planning training fails in chaotic organizations: by presupposing that staff have real power over their time and tasks.

The team consulted with a government department where employees were continuously receiving criticized for “inadequate time organization” and sent to “productivity” training sessions.

Their reality was that these employees had almost absolutely no influence over their job activities. Here’s what their average schedule looked like:

About 60% of their time was consumed by mandatory sessions that they had no option to decline, regardless of whether these sessions were useful to their core work

An additional one-fifth of their workday was allocated to filling out required documentation and administrative requirements that provided zero value to their actual job or to the citizens they were meant to serve

This leftover 20% of their schedule was meant to be dedicated for their actual responsibilities – the tasks they were hired to do and that actually mattered to the organization

However even this tiny amount of time was constantly disrupted by “emergency” requests, last-minute conferences, and bureaucratic obligations that had no option to be delayed

Under these constraints, absolutely no degree of “time management” training was going to help these workers become more effective. The challenge wasn’t their employee time organization techniques – it was an organizational system that rendered efficient accomplishment almost impossible.

I worked with them create structural changes to address the real impediments to productivity:

Got rid of pointless conferences and established specific standards for when gatherings were genuinely justified

Reduced paperwork obligations and eliminated redundant documentation requirements

Created dedicated time for real work responsibilities that couldn’t be interrupted by administrative tasks

Developed clear procedures for determining what constituted a genuine “emergency” versus normal demands that could wait for designated periods

Created workload sharing systems to ensure that tasks was distributed equitably and that not any individual was overburdened with impossible workloads

Employee efficiency rose dramatically, work fulfillment improved notably, and their department genuinely started delivering improved services to the public they were meant to serve.

That key insight: companies can’t address efficiency problems by showing employees to work more effectively efficiently within dysfunctional organizations. Companies have to repair the organizations initially.

At this point let’s examine probably the most absurd aspect of task management training in dysfunctional organizations: the belief that employees can mysteriously manage tasks when the organization itself modifies its focus multiple times per day.

I worked with a technology company where the executive leadership was notorious for having “game-changing” insights numerous times per week and requiring the whole organization to immediately pivot to pursue each new idea.

Staff would show up at work on regularly with a specific understanding of their objectives for the period, only to discover that the CEO had decided suddenly that everything they had been concentrating on was not a priority and that they needed to instantly start focusing on something totally new.

Such pattern would occur several times per month. Projects that had been stated as “essential” would be dropped mid-stream, teams would be continuously re-assigned to different work, and significant amounts of time and work would be lost on work that were never finished.

This organization had invested significantly in “adaptive work planning” training and sophisticated project tracking tools to help workers “adjust rapidly” to evolving priorities.

However no degree of training or tools could overcome the fundamental issue: people cannot effectively organize continuously shifting priorities. Perpetual change is the enemy of good prioritization.

We worked with them implement what I call “Strategic Direction Stability”:

Established scheduled strategic planning periods where major strategy modifications could be discussed and approved

Established clear standards for what constituted a legitimate basis for modifying agreed-upon directions apart from the planned planning periods

Established a “objective protection” period where no modifications to established directions were acceptable without exceptional circumstances

Implemented clear communication systems for when objective adjustments were genuinely essential, including full cost analyses of what initiatives would be abandoned

Established written authorization from several leaders before all significant priority shifts could be enacted

Their transformation was remarkable. In three months, actual project delivery statistics rose by over 300%. Employee stress levels fell significantly as staff could at last work on completing work rather than constantly initiating new ones.

Product development actually increased because groups had sufficient time to fully develop and evaluate their solutions rather than repeatedly moving to new directions before anything could be properly developed.

This point: effective prioritization requires directions that keep unchanged long enough for teams to genuinely concentrate on them and accomplish significant outcomes.

This is what I’ve concluded after years in this field: time organization training is only useful in workplaces that genuinely have their leadership systems together.

If your company has clear strategic direction, achievable expectations, functional leadership, and structures that enable rather than prevent effective activity, then priority planning training can be beneficial.

Yet if your workplace is defined by perpetual crisis management, conflicting priorities, inadequate coordination, impossible workloads, and reactive decision-making approaches, then priority organization training is more harmful than useless – it’s actively damaging because it holds responsible employee choices for leadership dysfunction.

Quit wasting money on time planning training until you’ve resolved your organizational priorities initially.

Begin building companies with stable strategic direction, competent decision-making, and processes that actually support efficient activity.

Your workers will organize extremely well once you offer them something worth focusing on and an workplace that genuinely supports them in completing their work. overwhelmed with unrealistic responsibilities

Worker productivity improved significantly, work happiness increased notably, and this agency genuinely started delivering improved results to the public they were intended to help.

This key insight: companies won’t be able to solve productivity issues by teaching people to function better successfully within broken organizations. Companies need to repair the organizations initially.

Currently let’s address perhaps the biggest ridiculous element of time planning training in poorly-run companies: the belief that staff can somehow organize tasks when the management as a whole changes its priorities multiple times per week.

I worked with a IT company where the executive leadership was well-known for experiencing “game-changing” revelations several times per week and requiring the whole team to right away redirect to accommodate each new priority.

Workers would show up at work on regularly with a clear understanding of their objectives for the day, only to discover that the management had decided suddenly that all priorities they had been focusing on was no longer relevant and that they needed to right away commence focusing on a project totally unrelated.

That behavior would happen several times per period. Work that had been declared as “critical” would be forgotten before completion, departments would be repeatedly moved to different work, and enormous amounts of time and energy would be wasted on projects that were never completed.

Their organization had invested extensively in “agile project planning” training and advanced project tracking software to enable staff “respond efficiently” to changing directions.

Yet zero degree of skill development or software could address the core issue: you won’t be able to efficiently prioritize continuously changing objectives. Continuous shifting is the enemy of successful organization.

I worked with them create what I call “Disciplined Priority Stability”:

Implemented quarterly priority planning cycles where important priority modifications could be considered and adopted

Developed clear criteria for what represented a valid reason for changing established priorities apart from the regular planning sessions

Implemented a “objective protection” period where no adjustments to current priorities were permitted without exceptional approval

Established specific notification procedures for when priority modifications were genuinely required, including full cost analyses of what initiatives would be delayed

Mandated written approval from several stakeholders before all significant strategy modifications could be implemented

Their transformation was dramatic. In 90 days, real work success rates improved by more than dramatically. Staff stress levels dropped considerably as staff could actually work on completing work rather than repeatedly beginning new ones.

Product development surprisingly improved because departments had sufficient time to fully explore and refine their ideas rather than constantly switching to new initiatives before any project could be properly developed.

The lesson: effective planning needs objectives that remain unchanged long enough for people to genuinely focus on them and complete meaningful progress.

Here’s what I’ve discovered after decades in this field: task organization training is merely effective in organizations that currently have their leadership act together.

Once your company has consistent organizational priorities, reasonable demands, effective management, and structures that enable rather than prevent efficient work, then task planning training can be beneficial.

Yet if your workplace is characterized by constant chaos, conflicting messages, incompetent coordination, excessive workloads, and reactive leadership cultures, then task organization training is more counterproductive than pointless – it’s systematically destructive because it holds responsible individual performance for organizational incompetence.

Quit squandering money on task organization training until you’ve resolved your leadership direction initially.

Focus on creating companies with clear organizational direction, competent decision-making, and systems that actually facilitate meaningful activity.

Company employees can manage tasks perfectly effectively once you give them direction suitable for focusing on and an workplace that really supports them in doing their responsibilities.

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