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How Time Planning Training Is Useless in Poorly-Run Organizations
End Teaching People to "Organize" When Your Business Has Zero Idea What Actually Is Important: The Reason Time Organization Training Doesn't Work in Dysfunctional Companies
I'm going to demolish one of the greatest widespread misconceptions in corporate training: the idea that showing staff more effective "task management" skills will solve time management challenges in companies that have no consistent direction themselves.
After extensive experience of working with companies on efficiency challenges, I can tell you that time management training in a poorly-run company is like showing someone to sort their belongings while their home is actively collapsing around them.
This is the core problem: the majority of companies experiencing from productivity problems don't have efficiency problems - they have organizational problems.
Standard priority management training assumes that organizations have well-defined, stable goals that employees can be taught to identify and focus on. That idea is totally divorced from reality in nearly all modern workplaces.
I worked with a large communications firm where staff were repeatedly complaining about being "struggling to organize their work properly." Executives had invested hundreds of thousands on priority management training for every workers.
This training featured all the standard techniques: Eisenhower systems, task categorization systems, schedule blocking techniques, and detailed task organization applications.
Yet productivity remained to decline, employee overwhelm instances got higher, and client completion results got worse, not better.
Once I analyzed what was really occurring, I discovered the underlying issue: the agency as a whole had absolutely no clear direction.
This is what the normal experience looked like for staff:
Regularly: Senior leadership would announce that Initiative A was the "top objective" and all staff should to concentrate on it right away
24 hours later: A another top leader would distribute an "immediate" email stating that Project B was really the "top important" objective
Wednesday: Another different department leader would organize an "immediate" session to declare that Client C was a "must-have" requirement that needed to be finished by immediately
Thursday: The first executive leader would express anger that Initiative A had not advanced enough and require to know why staff were not "working on" it properly
Friday: Each three projects would be behind, several deadlines would be missed, and workers would be criticized for "inadequate priority organization techniques"
Such scenario was occurring constantly after week, regularly after month. Absolutely no degree of "priority planning" training was going to assist employees navigate this organizational insanity.
This basic challenge wasn't that staff did not know how to organize - it was that the company at every level was entirely unable of establishing clear priorities for more than 72 hours at a time.
I convinced leadership to scrap their emphasis on "individual task planning" training and instead implement what I call "Leadership Direction Management."
In place of trying to show employees to manage within a dysfunctional environment, we focused on building actual strategic direction:
Created a single leadership leadership team with clear responsibility for establishing and enforcing organizational direction
Established a systematic priority assessment system that took place on schedule rather than whenever someone felt like it
Established clear guidelines for when initiatives could be adjusted and what degree of authorization was required for such modifications
Created enforced notification protocols to ensure that any focus adjustments were communicated explicitly and consistently across all departments
Implemented protection times where no focus disruptions were permitted without extraordinary approval
This improvement was immediate and outstanding:
Worker stress levels dropped substantially as people at last were clear about what they were required to be working on
Output rose by over half within a month and a half as staff could really work on completing tasks rather than repeatedly switching between conflicting priorities
Work completion schedules improved considerably as staff could coordinate and execute work without constant interruptions and redirection
Customer relationships got better significantly as work were actually finished according to schedule and to standards
That reality: instead of you show people to prioritize, make sure your organization genuinely possesses stable strategic focus that are suitable for working toward.
Here's another way that time organization training proves useless in chaotic companies: by assuming that workers have real control over their work and priorities.
We worked with a public sector agency where workers were continuously getting blamed for "poor time management" and required to "productivity" training sessions.
The reality was that these workers had virtually absolutely no control over their work schedules. Let me describe what their average schedule seemed like:
About the majority of their schedule was taken up by required sessions that they were not allowed to skip, no matter of whether these conferences were necessary to their actual work
Another one-fifth of their time was assigned to completing mandatory reports and administrative obligations that provided no usefulness to their primary work or to the citizens they were meant to serve
The remaining 20% of their time was meant to be dedicated for their core work - the work they were paid to do and that really made a difference to the public
Additionally even this tiny amount of schedule was continuously invaded by "immediate" requirements, unexpected calls, and management obligations that couldn't be postponed
Given these conditions, zero amount of "task management" training was able to help these workers get more effective. Their challenge wasn't their employee time planning skills - it was an systemic framework that ensured meaningful accomplishment almost unattainable.
We worked with them establish organizational improvements to fix the actual impediments to efficiency:
Got rid of unnecessary meetings and established strict standards for when gatherings were really justified
Reduced administrative requirements and eliminated duplicate form-filling processes
Created dedicated periods for core work tasks that were not allowed to be disrupted by non-essential demands
Created specific procedures for determining what represented a real "urgent situation" versus standard tasks that could be planned for scheduled periods
Established task distribution systems to make certain that work was allocated equitably and that zero employee was carrying excessive load with unrealistic workloads
Employee efficiency increased significantly, work satisfaction improved considerably, and their organization finally began delivering better results to the public they were intended to serve.
The crucial lesson: you won't be able to address productivity problems by showing individuals to function better productively within dysfunctional structures. Companies need to fix the systems initially.
Now let's examine perhaps the most absurd element of time organization training in chaotic companies: the idea that workers can mysteriously organize tasks when the management at leadership level changes its priorities several times per day.
We consulted with a technology company where the executive leadership was notorious for going through "brilliant" ideas multiple times per period and demanding the entire company to right away pivot to implement each new idea.
Workers would arrive at the office on regularly with a specific awareness of their priorities for the day, only to discover that the CEO had determined overnight that all work they had been focusing on was suddenly not important and that they should to instantly begin working on a project entirely new.
This behavior would occur numerous times per month. Initiatives that had been declared as "highest priority" would be abandoned before completion, teams would be repeatedly re-assigned to new projects, and significant quantities of effort and investment would be lost on work that were not finished.
The organization had poured heavily in "agile project planning" training and complex project organization tools to enable workers "adapt quickly" to shifting priorities.
Yet zero degree of skill development or software could solve the fundamental challenge: people cannot effectively prioritize continuously shifting priorities. Perpetual change is the opposite of good prioritization.
I assisted them establish what I call "Strategic Direction Management":
Established scheduled planning planning cycles where important strategy adjustments could be evaluated and approved
Created strict requirements for what qualified as a legitimate reason for adjusting set priorities apart from the planned assessment cycles
Created a "direction stability" time where no adjustments to current objectives were acceptable without extraordinary justification
Established defined communication protocols for when objective modifications were absolutely essential, including full cost assessments of what projects would be interrupted
Mandated formal sign-off from several leaders before any major strategy changes could be approved
Their improvement was remarkable. Within a quarter, measurable initiative success rates improved by nearly dramatically. Employee stress rates decreased significantly as staff could actually focus on completing tasks rather than constantly beginning new ones.
Creativity actually increased because departments had sufficient resources to thoroughly explore and refine their concepts rather than repeatedly changing to new projects before any project could be properly finished.
This point: effective organization demands objectives that keep unchanged long enough for employees to actually focus on them and achieve substantial progress.
Here's what I've concluded after extensive time in this industry: task management training is exclusively valuable in companies that genuinely have their organizational act together.
If your organization has consistent organizational priorities, reasonable workloads, effective leadership, and processes that enable rather than prevent efficient work, then time management training can be helpful.
Yet if your company is marked by perpetual crisis management, unclear directions, incompetent organization, excessive workloads, and emergency management styles, then time organization training is more harmful than useless - it's systematically damaging because it blames employee performance for leadership dysfunction.
Stop wasting money on task management training until you've addressed your leadership dysfunction initially.
Focus on creating workplaces with consistent business direction, functional decision-making, and systems that actually facilitate productive accomplishment.
The employees can manage tasks extremely fine once you provide them direction suitable for prioritizing and an environment that actually supports them in doing their work. carrying excessive load with impossible responsibilities
Staff productivity increased significantly, work happiness improved considerably, and their agency actually started providing improved services to the public they were meant to serve.
That important point: organizations cannot address productivity problems by showing employees to work better productively within dysfunctional organizations. Organizations need to improve the systems first.
Now let's discuss perhaps the greatest ridiculous element of task management training in dysfunctional organizations: the assumption that workers can mysteriously organize responsibilities when the organization itself shifts its focus several times per week.
The team consulted with a technology startup where the CEO was well-known for having "innovative" revelations multiple times per period and requiring the complete organization to immediately pivot to pursue each new direction.
Workers would show up at work on any given day with a defined understanding of their tasks for the day, only to discover that the CEO had concluded over the weekend that all priorities they had been working on was not important and that they needed to instantly start concentrating on an initiative entirely new.
This behavior would repeat several times per week. Projects that had been stated as "critical" would be abandoned before completion, teams would be continuously moved to alternative work, and enormous amounts of time and work would be wasted on work that were never completed.
This organization had poured significantly in "flexible work management" training and sophisticated priority tracking systems to enable workers "adjust quickly" to evolving requirements.
However absolutely no degree of education or software could address the core issue: people can't effectively prioritize constantly shifting priorities. Constant shifting is the antithesis of effective prioritization.
The team helped them establish what I call "Focused Priority Consistency":
Implemented regular priority review sessions where significant priority modifications could be evaluated and approved
Developed clear standards for what represented a legitimate reason for changing established objectives beyond the scheduled planning sessions
Created a "objective stability" time where no modifications to set priorities were permitted without extraordinary circumstances
Established specific coordination protocols for when direction adjustments were really essential, including thorough consequence analyses of what initiatives would be interrupted
Required written sign-off from senior decision-makers before all major priority modifications could be implemented
This improvement was outstanding. After three months, actual work delivery percentages rose by nearly three times. Employee stress rates dropped substantially as employees could actually focus on delivering projects rather than continuously starting new ones.
Product development actually got better because departments had sufficient opportunity to completely explore and test their solutions rather than repeatedly changing to new initiatives before anything could be adequately completed.
That point: good planning needs directions that stay unchanged long enough for people to actually focus on them and complete meaningful outcomes.
Here's what I've concluded after years in this industry: time planning training is exclusively useful in workplaces that currently have their strategic act working properly.
If your organization has consistent strategic direction, achievable expectations, functional leadership, and processes that facilitate rather than prevent productive activity, then priority management training can be beneficial.
But if your organization is defined by continuous chaos, conflicting directions, inadequate coordination, excessive expectations, and reactive leadership approaches, then task management training is more counterproductive than ineffective - it's actively destructive because it faults individual behavior for systemic failures.
Quit squandering money on time management training until you've resolved your systemic priorities before anything else.
Start establishing companies with stable strategic focus, effective management, and structures that really facilitate efficient activity.
Company employees will prioritize extremely well once you offer them priorities suitable for focusing on and an environment that actually facilitates them in completing their jobs.
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