Stop Teaching People to “Manage Tasks” When Your Company Has Zero Idea What Actually Is Important: Why Priority Management Training Doesn’t Work in Poorly-Run Workplaces
I’ll ready to demolish one of the most widespread myths in corporate training: the idea that training workers better “prioritization” techniques will fix time management challenges in workplaces that have absolutely no coherent priorities themselves.
After nearly two decades of working with companies on time management problems, I can tell you that priority management training in a dysfunctional workplace is like instructing someone to sort their belongings while their house is literally collapsing around them.
This is the core reality: most companies suffering from efficiency problems don’t have productivity issues – they have leadership problems.
Standard time organization training presupposes that organizations have consistent, reliable priorities that workers can be taught to identify and work toward. Such idea is totally divorced from reality in nearly all modern workplaces.
We worked with a large communications firm where staff were repeatedly complaining about being “struggling to prioritize their responsibilities effectively.” Leadership had poured hundreds of thousands on priority organization training for every employees.
This training featured all the standard approaches: urgency-importance grids, priority ranking methods, calendar management techniques, and sophisticated project tracking applications.
Yet performance kept to decline, worker stress levels got higher, and work completion schedules turned longer, not improved.
After I investigated what was genuinely happening, I learned the actual cause: the agency at the leadership level had absolutely no stable strategic focus.
Let me share what the typical reality looked like for staff:
Monday: Top leadership would communicate that Project A was the “top objective” and each employee must to work on it right away
The next day: A another executive manager would send an “urgent” email insisting that Project B was really the “most important” focus
Day three: Yet another team head would schedule an “immediate” meeting to announce that Initiative C was a “critical” deadline that had to be finished by immediately
Thursday: The first top leader would voice disappointment that Project A hadn’t been completed sufficiently and insist to know why employees had not been “focusing on” it as instructed
End of week: All three projects would be behind, various deadlines would be missed, and employees would be blamed for “ineffective priority planning skills”
This scenario was happening week after week, regularly after month. Zero level of “task management” training was going to help employees navigate this organizational insanity.
The basic challenge wasn’t that workers didn’t know how to prioritize – it was that the organization at every level was completely incapable of establishing clear priorities for more than 24 hours at a time.
The team persuaded leadership to eliminate their focus on “individual time organization” training and instead create what I call “Strategic Priority Management.”
In place of attempting to show employees to manage within a dysfunctional system, we worked on creating real organizational clarity:
Implemented a unified leadership management team with clear authority for determining and enforcing company priorities
Established a systematic project assessment procedure that happened regularly rather than whenever someone felt like it
Created specific guidelines for when priorities could be modified and what type of authorization was needed for such modifications
Established required coordination procedures to make certain that any project modifications were announced explicitly and consistently across each departments
Created stability times where zero focus changes were permitted without extraordinary circumstances
The improvement was remarkable and outstanding:
Staff stress levels fell substantially as people for the first time were clear about what they were expected to be working on
Output improved by nearly significantly within 45 days as staff could really work on delivering tasks rather than repeatedly changing between competing requests
Work completion schedules improved substantially as teams could organize and deliver work without constant changes and re-prioritization
External relationships improved dramatically as work were consistently completed as promised and to requirements
The reality: before you train employees to manage tasks, make sure your leadership genuinely maintains consistent strategic focus that are deserving of focusing on.
This is one more way that time management training proves useless in dysfunctional companies: by presupposing that staff have actual authority over their time and responsibilities.
The team consulted with a municipal organization where workers were constantly getting reprimanded for “poor task organization” and sent to “time management” training sessions.
The truth was that these staff had essentially zero control over their job schedules. Let me describe what their typical day seemed like:
Approximately three-fifths of their time was consumed by compulsory sessions that they had no option to skip, irrespective of whether these conferences were useful to their actual responsibilities
An additional 20% of their schedule was allocated to completing bureaucratic reports and bureaucratic requirements that contributed absolutely no benefit to their actual job or to the clients they were meant to help
The leftover one-fifth of their schedule was supposed to be dedicated for their actual job – the tasks they were employed to do and that actually mattered to the organization
Additionally even this small portion of schedule was continuously interrupted by “urgent” requests, last-minute meetings, and administrative demands that had no option to be postponed
Given these conditions, no degree of “time organization” training was going to help these workers get more effective. This challenge wasn’t their individual time management abilities – it was an organizational framework that rendered productive work essentially impossible.
The team helped them create structural changes to fix the underlying impediments to effectiveness:
Eliminated pointless conferences and established clear criteria for when conferences were actually justified
Simplified bureaucratic obligations and eliminated duplicate documentation requirements
Implemented dedicated time for real professional tasks that would not be disrupted by administrative tasks
Created clear systems for deciding what constituted a legitimate “emergency” versus normal requests that could be scheduled for scheduled slots
Established task distribution processes to guarantee that responsibilities was shared appropriately and that zero individual was overwhelmed with unsustainable responsibilities
Employee efficiency increased dramatically, professional happiness increased notably, and the department actually commenced providing better outcomes to the citizens they were intended to serve.
The crucial insight: organizations won’t be able to fix time management problems by training employees to work more efficiently within broken systems. Companies must repair the structures first.
At this point let’s examine probably the greatest ridiculous element of task organization training in chaotic companies: the belief that employees can magically organize tasks when the management at leadership level changes its direction several times per day.
We worked with a IT company where the executive leadership was famous for going through “innovative” revelations multiple times per week and expecting the complete company to instantly pivot to implement each new priority.
Staff would arrive at work on Monday with a defined understanding of their tasks for the period, only to learn that the management had concluded overnight that everything they had been working on was not important and that they should to right away begin working on a project entirely different.
That behavior would repeat numerous times per month. Projects that had been announced as “essential” would be forgotten before completion, departments would be repeatedly redirected to new initiatives, and enormous amounts of effort and work would be wasted on initiatives that were never delivered.
The startup had spent extensively in “adaptive task management” training and complex priority organization software to assist staff “adjust quickly” to evolving priorities.
Yet no amount of skill development or tools could address the core challenge: you won’t be able to successfully prioritize constantly evolving priorities. Perpetual shifting is the opposite of good planning.
We worked with them establish what I call “Disciplined Direction Stability”:
Established regular strategic assessment sessions where major strategy adjustments could be discussed and adopted
Established firm criteria for what constituted a genuine basis for modifying established objectives beyond the scheduled review sessions
Implemented a “objective protection” phase where absolutely no changes to current priorities were allowed without exceptional approval
Implemented clear communication procedures for when direction changes were really necessary, including complete cost evaluations of what projects would be interrupted
Required formal approval from several decision-makers before any major direction changes could be enacted
The improvement was outstanding. In three months, measurable work success statistics improved by over dramatically. Staff frustration rates decreased significantly as employees could actually concentrate on finishing projects rather than constantly initiating new ones.
Product development remarkably increased because departments had enough time to thoroughly implement and refine their concepts rather than continuously switching to new initiatives before anything could be properly completed.
That point: good prioritization demands priorities that stay consistent long enough for teams to genuinely focus on them and accomplish meaningful progress.
Let me share what I’ve concluded after years in this business: time planning training is exclusively effective in companies that already have their organizational act working properly.
If your organization has consistent strategic objectives, achievable expectations, functional management, and processes that enable rather than hinder effective performance, then priority planning training can be useful.
However if your company is defined by constant chaos, unclear messages, poor planning, impossible demands, and emergency leadership cultures, then task organization training is worse than pointless – it’s actively harmful because it holds responsible individual performance for systemic incompetence.
Quit throwing away time on task organization training until you’ve fixed your systemic priorities before anything else.
Start establishing companies with clear organizational priorities, effective leadership, and structures that really support efficient work.
Your workers can organize perfectly well once you give them priorities suitable for working toward and an environment that actually facilitates them in accomplishing their responsibilities. carrying excessive load with unrealistic responsibilities
Staff productivity rose significantly, job happiness increased considerably, and their organization actually began providing improved results to the public they were intended to serve.
That important insight: companies cannot address efficiency issues by training individuals to function more effectively productively within dysfunctional structures. You must repair the organizations before anything else.
Currently let’s address possibly the greatest ridiculous element of task management training in poorly-run workplaces: the assumption that staff can somehow organize responsibilities when the company as a whole shifts its priorities several times per month.
The team consulted with a software company where the founder was well-known for going through “brilliant” revelations multiple times per day and demanding the entire organization to immediately redirect to implement each new idea.
Employees would show up at their jobs on Monday with a defined knowledge of their priorities for the day, only to discover that the management had decided over the weekend that everything they had been focusing on was suddenly not a priority and that they must to instantly start focusing on a project totally new.
This behavior would happen several times per month. Projects that had been announced as “highest priority” would be dropped halfway through, teams would be repeatedly redirected to different projects, and massive quantities of time and energy would be squandered on work that were ultimately not completed.
The startup had spent extensively in “adaptive task management” training and advanced priority tracking tools to assist workers “adjust efficiently” to evolving requirements.
But no level of education or software could address the basic problem: organizations can’t successfully organize continuously evolving directions. Perpetual change is the enemy of successful prioritization.
I helped them establish what I call “Disciplined Objective Consistency”:
Established quarterly strategic assessment periods where significant strategy changes could be discussed and implemented
Established strict criteria for what qualified as a valid justification for changing set priorities outside the scheduled planning sessions
Established a “objective consistency” time where no changes to set priorities were acceptable without exceptional justification
Established clear communication systems for when objective changes were absolutely required, featuring complete consequence assessments of what projects would be abandoned
Established documented sign-off from multiple decision-makers before all major direction changes could be approved
The transformation was remarkable. After a quarter, real initiative success rates rose by over three times. Staff frustration rates decreased significantly as employees could finally focus on delivering tasks rather than continuously starting new ones.
Product development surprisingly increased because groups had adequate resources to completely develop and test their concepts rather than repeatedly changing to new projects before any project could be adequately developed.
The point: successful organization needs directions that keep stable long enough for people to actually focus on them and achieve substantial results.
This is what I’ve learned after decades in this field: time organization training is only useful in organizations that already have their strategic act together.
Once your workplace has consistent organizational priorities, achievable expectations, competent decision-making, and processes that support rather than hinder productive activity, then time management training can be beneficial.
But if your organization is characterized by continuous crisis management, conflicting directions, poor coordination, unrealistic expectations, and reactive management styles, then time planning training is worse than pointless – it’s actively destructive because it faults employee behavior for systemic dysfunction.
Stop wasting time on time planning training until you’ve resolved your systemic priorities initially.
Focus on establishing workplaces with consistent business priorities, functional leadership, and structures that genuinely support efficient activity.
Your workers will prioritize just well once you offer them something deserving of prioritizing and an workplace that genuinely facilitates them in accomplishing their jobs.
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