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How Time Planning Training Is Useless in Poorly-Run Organizations
Quit Teaching People to "Manage Tasks" When Your Organization Has Absolutely No Understanding What Genuinely Matters: The Reason Task Management Training Is Useless in Dysfunctional Organizations
Let me ready to destroy one of the greatest common misconceptions in workplace training: the assumption that showing workers better "prioritization" methods will resolve time management problems in companies that have zero coherent direction themselves.
After seventeen years of working with companies on time management issues, I can tell you that time planning training in a chaotic workplace is like teaching someone to arrange their belongings while their house is literally collapsing around them.
This is the basic reality: most organizations dealing with from productivity crises do not have efficiency problems - they have organizational problems.
Standard task management training presupposes that workplaces have well-defined, unchanging objectives that staff can be trained to understand and work on. That assumption is entirely separated from reality in the majority of contemporary companies.
The team worked with a major advertising company where employees were continuously complaining about being "struggling to manage their work properly." Executives had spent enormous amounts on time planning training for all staff.
Their training featured all the typical methods: priority systems, task categorization approaches, time management methods, and complex project management systems.
However performance remained to get worse, employee frustration levels got higher, and project delivery results got worse, not better.
After I investigated what was actually occurring, I learned the actual cause: the company itself had absolutely no stable direction.
Here's what the normal situation looked like for staff:
Each week: Executive executives would communicate that Project A was the "highest objective" and everyone needed to work on it as soon as possible
Tuesday: A separate senior manager would send an "immediate" message declaring that Project B was now the "highest important" focus
Day three: A third division leader would organize an "immediate" session to announce that Project C was a "critical" requirement that needed to be completed by end of week
Thursday: The original top manager would express disappointment that Client A had not progressed sufficiently and insist to know why staff were not "prioritizing" it properly
Friday: Each three initiatives would be behind, various deadlines would be failed, and employees would be held responsible for "poor time management techniques"
Such cycle was repeated continuously after week, month after month. No amount of "task planning" training was able to enable employees navigate this systemic insanity.
The core issue wasn't that staff did not know how to prioritize - it was that the organization at every level was entirely unable of creating clear strategic focus for more than 72 hours at a time.
We convinced executives to abandon their concentration on "employee priority organization" training and rather implement what I call "Organizational Direction Clarity."
Instead of trying to train employees to organize within a constantly changing system, we worked on building genuine strategic clarity:
Created a single executive management committee with specific authority for determining and preserving organizational direction
Implemented a formal project review process that occurred monthly rather than daily
Created clear criteria for when initiatives could be changed and what type of authorization was required for such adjustments
Created mandatory coordination procedures to guarantee that each project changes were shared clearly and uniformly across all levels
Implemented buffer times where no project disruptions were allowed without emergency approval
Their change was immediate and dramatic:
Staff frustration levels decreased dramatically as staff for the first time understood what they were supposed to be working on
Efficiency increased by more than 50% within a month and a half as employees could really concentrate on finishing tasks rather than continuously changing between competing priorities
Client quality schedules improved considerably as staff could organize and execute work without daily interruptions and redirection
Client happiness increased significantly as projects were genuinely completed on time and to requirements
That point: before you train staff to manage tasks, make sure your leadership genuinely possesses stable direction that are worth working toward.
This is one more method that time management training doesn't work in dysfunctional organizations: by assuming that employees have real power over their schedule and priorities.
I worked with a government agency where workers were repeatedly receiving criticized for "ineffective task management" and mandated to "time management" training workshops.
Their truth was that these workers had essentially zero control over their work time. Let me describe what their normal workday appeared like:
About 60% of their workday was consumed by compulsory sessions that they had no option to avoid, no matter of whether these meetings were relevant to their real work
Another 20% of their schedule was assigned to completing mandatory reports and administrative obligations that provided absolutely no benefit to their actual job or to the clients they were intended to serve
Their leftover small portion of their workday was expected to be used for their actual responsibilities - the activities they were paid to do and that genuinely made a difference to the public
However even this small amount of availability was constantly disrupted by "urgent" requests, unexpected calls, and administrative obligations that had no option to be rescheduled
Given these constraints, absolutely no amount of "priority organization" training was going to help these employees turn more efficient. Their issue wasn't their employee priority management abilities - it was an systemic system that rendered productive work virtually unachievable.
We helped them implement organizational improvements to address the underlying barriers to effectiveness:
Got rid of unnecessary conferences and established clear requirements for when gatherings were really necessary
Simplified administrative obligations and removed unnecessary form-filling procedures
Established reserved periods for actual professional activities that would not be interrupted by non-essential demands
Established defined systems for deciding what constituted a legitimate "urgent situation" versus standard demands that could be scheduled for designated slots
Established delegation approaches to ensure that work was distributed equitably and that not any single person was overwhelmed with impossible responsibilities
Employee efficiency increased significantly, professional satisfaction improved notably, and their agency genuinely started delivering better services to the community they were intended to help.
That important point: companies cannot address productivity problems by training individuals to function better successfully within dysfunctional systems. Companies have to repair the organizations initially.
At this point let's discuss perhaps the greatest laughable element of priority organization training in poorly-run organizations: the assumption that staff can mysteriously manage responsibilities when the organization as a whole modifies its direction numerous times per week.
The team worked with a software business where the executive leadership was well-known for having "game-changing" ideas numerous times per day and expecting the complete organization to immediately redirect to implement each new direction.
Employees would arrive at the office on Monday with a specific awareness of their priorities for the period, only to discover that the CEO had concluded suddenly that all work they had been working on was not important and that they needed to instantly start focusing on an initiative totally different.
Such behavior would happen several times per period. Projects that had been announced as "highest priority" would be abandoned halfway through, teams would be repeatedly moved to alternative projects, and massive amounts of effort and investment would be squandered on projects that were not finished.
This company had invested heavily in "adaptive work planning" training and complex project tracking software to enable staff "adjust quickly" to changing priorities.
Yet zero amount of skill development or software could address the core problem: organizations cannot effectively organize perpetually shifting priorities. Continuous shifting is the enemy of good organization.
I helped them establish what I call "Disciplined Objective Stability":
Implemented quarterly planning review cycles where significant priority modifications could be discussed and adopted
Developed clear criteria for what qualified as a valid justification for changing set objectives beyond the scheduled review periods
Implemented a "direction consistency" period where no modifications to set directions were permitted without exceptional approval
Created clear communication procedures for when priority changes were really essential, with thorough cost assessments of what projects would be interrupted
Required written approval from senior decision-makers before each major strategy changes could be approved
Their change was outstanding. In a quarter, real initiative delivery percentages improved by more than three times. Employee stress rates fell substantially as staff could at last concentrate on completing tasks rather than continuously beginning new ones.
Innovation actually increased because departments had enough resources to fully explore and test their concepts rather than repeatedly moving to new directions before anything could be properly finished.
That lesson: effective planning needs objectives that remain consistent long enough for employees to genuinely focus on them and accomplish meaningful outcomes.
Here's what I've discovered after extensive time in this field: time organization training is exclusively useful in workplaces that already have their strategic priorities working properly.
If your organization has consistent strategic objectives, reasonable demands, functional management, and systems that support rather than obstruct efficient activity, then priority organization training can be useful.
However if your workplace is defined by constant dysfunction, unclear priorities, inadequate planning, unrealistic demands, and emergency management approaches, then time organization training is worse than pointless - it's directly destructive because it blames employee behavior for systemic incompetence.
Quit throwing away resources on priority organization training until you've fixed your leadership direction before anything else.
Start building organizations with stable organizational focus, competent management, and processes that actually support meaningful accomplishment.
Your workers will manage tasks just well once you give them direction worth focusing on and an workplace that genuinely enables them in doing their responsibilities. overburdened with unsustainable demands
Employee efficiency increased significantly, job satisfaction improved substantially, and the department genuinely commenced delivering improved outcomes to the community they were meant to support.
This important lesson: you won't be able to address time management issues by teaching people to operate better successfully within broken structures. Organizations have to fix the organizations first.
Currently let's examine perhaps the most absurd aspect of task organization training in dysfunctional organizations: the belief that workers can magically manage work when the company as a whole shifts its priorities multiple times per day.
The team worked with a software startup where the executive leadership was well-known for having "innovative" insights several times per day and requiring the entire company to right away shift to implement each new idea.
Employees would come at their jobs on any given day with a clear understanding of their objectives for the week, only to discover that the leadership had decided overnight that everything they had been concentrating on was not important and that they must to right away begin focusing on something completely unrelated.
That pattern would repeat several times per week. Projects that had been announced as "highest priority" would be forgotten before completion, departments would be constantly moved to new projects, and enormous quantities of resources and energy would be lost on initiatives that were never finished.
Their organization had poured significantly in "flexible project organization" training and sophisticated project tracking systems to assist workers "adjust rapidly" to shifting requirements.
However no degree of skill development or tools could overcome the core issue: you can't effectively organize constantly changing objectives. Perpetual change is the opposite of good prioritization.
The team worked with them establish what I call "Disciplined Objective Consistency":
Established scheduled strategic assessment cycles where major priority modifications could be discussed and approved
Established strict requirements for what qualified as a valid reason for changing set directions outside the planned review cycles
Created a "priority protection" time where absolutely no modifications to current objectives were allowed without emergency approval
Created defined notification protocols for when priority changes were absolutely essential, with complete cost analyses of what projects would be abandoned
Required formal authorization from several stakeholders before any major strategy changes could be approved
This change was remarkable. Within 90 days, measurable initiative delivery percentages rose by more than dramatically. Staff frustration instances dropped significantly as employees could actually concentrate on finishing projects rather than continuously initiating new ones.
Innovation actually increased because departments had adequate resources to fully develop and refine their ideas rather than repeatedly switching to new directions before any work could be fully developed.
That point: effective organization needs objectives that remain stable long enough for people to genuinely work on them and complete meaningful results.
Here's what I've concluded after decades in this industry: task organization training is only useful in workplaces that already have their strategic priorities together.
When your workplace has consistent strategic objectives, reasonable expectations, functional management, and structures that enable rather than prevent efficient work, then priority organization training can be helpful.
However if your organization is characterized by continuous chaos, competing priorities, inadequate organization, unrealistic workloads, and crisis-driven management cultures, then task organization training is more harmful than useless - it's directly harmful because it blames individual behavior for systemic incompetence.
End wasting time on time organization training until you've fixed your systemic priorities before anything else.
Focus on building workplaces with consistent business direction, competent management, and systems that actually facilitate meaningful work.
Your workers would organize just effectively once you give them direction deserving of working toward and an workplace that genuinely supports them in doing their responsibilities.
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