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How Time Planning Training Is Useless in Poorly-Run Organizations
Stop Teaching People to "Manage Tasks" When Your Company Has Absolutely No Clue What Genuinely Matters: Why Priority Planning Training Fails in Poorly-Run Workplaces
I'll about to destroy one of the greatest common myths in workplace training: the assumption that showing staff more effective "time organization" methods will fix time management issues in organizations that have no clear direction themselves.
With extensive experience of working with organizations on time management problems, I can tell you that time organization training in a dysfunctional workplace is like showing someone to sort their belongings while their building is actively collapsing around them.
Let me share the basic problem: most organizations dealing with from efficiency problems cannot have efficiency challenges - they have leadership failures.
Standard task management training assumes that organizations have clear, unchanging goals that workers can be taught to identify and work on. This belief is totally divorced from reality in nearly all modern organizations.
The team worked with a major advertising agency where workers were repeatedly reporting problems about being "failing to organize their responsibilities successfully." Management had poured enormous amounts on task organization training for every staff.
The training included all the typical techniques: Eisenhower systems, ABC classification methods, time blocking techniques, and complex work management systems.
Yet performance continued to drop, worker frustration rates increased, and client quality schedules became worse, not improved.
Once I investigated what was genuinely happening, I found the underlying issue: the company at the leadership level had absolutely no clear priorities.
Here's what the typical experience looked like for employees:
Each week: Executive management would declare that Initiative A was the "top priority" and all staff needed to focus on it right away
24 hours later: A different senior manager would send an "urgent" message insisting that Initiative B was now the "most important" priority
Day three: A third division manager would call an "urgent" meeting to announce that Client C was a "essential" deadline that needed to be completed by Friday
Day four: The first executive manager would voice disappointment that Project A was not advanced sufficiently and demand to know why people were not "working on" it correctly
End of week: Each three initiatives would be incomplete, multiple deliverables would be missed, and workers would be criticized for "ineffective task organization skills"
This pattern was occurring constantly after week, regularly after month. Absolutely no degree of "priority management" training was able to assist workers navigate this organizational chaos.
This fundamental issue wasn't that employees couldn't understand how to organize - it was that the company at every level was totally unable of establishing stable strategic focus for more than 48 hours at a time.
The team helped executives to eliminate their focus on "employee priority organization" training and rather create what I call "Strategic Priority Systems."
In place of trying to train workers to prioritize within a dysfunctional organization, we concentrated on building genuine strategic direction:
Established a single executive decision-making group with defined responsibility for setting and enforcing organizational focus
Created a formal priority evaluation system that took place monthly rather than daily
Developed clear guidelines for when projects could be adjusted and what degree of sign-off was required for such changes
Established required coordination systems to ensure that each focus adjustments were announced systematically and uniformly across every levels
Established protection phases where zero focus changes were permitted without exceptional approval
Their change was instant and substantial:
Staff stress rates dropped significantly as people finally knew what they were supposed to be concentrating on
Output rose by more than 50% within six weeks as workers could genuinely work on finishing tasks rather than continuously redirecting between multiple demands
Work completion schedules got better significantly as teams could plan and execute tasks without continuous disruptions and redirection
Client happiness increased substantially as work were genuinely delivered according to schedule and to standards
The point: prior to you train people to organize, guarantee your organization genuinely has consistent priorities that are suitable for prioritizing.
Let me share another method that task management training fails in chaotic workplaces: by presupposing that staff have real power over their time and priorities.
We consulted with a public sector agency where workers were continuously receiving reprimanded for "ineffective time organization" and sent to "efficiency" training sessions.
This truth was that these staff had almost no control over their work time. This is what their normal day appeared like:
About the majority of their time was occupied by mandatory conferences that they were not allowed to decline, regardless of whether these sessions were relevant to their real work
A further one-fifth of their schedule was dedicated to filling out bureaucratic reports and paperwork obligations that provided no benefit to their real job or to the people they were supposed to help
This final one-fifth of their workday was supposed to be used for their core job - the activities they were hired to do and that really made a difference to the organization
Additionally even this small portion of availability was constantly interrupted by "emergency" requests, unplanned calls, and management demands that were not allowed to be postponed
Given these constraints, zero degree of "task organization" training was going to help these employees turn more productive. Their problem wasn't their individual priority management abilities - it was an systemic system that made efficient activity almost unachievable.
I helped them implement systematic reforms to resolve the real obstacles to productivity:
Eliminated unnecessary meetings and established specific standards for when gatherings were genuinely necessary
Reduced administrative requirements and eliminated redundant form-filling processes
Implemented reserved blocks for real job responsibilities that would not be interrupted by non-essential demands
Developed specific procedures for deciding what constituted a legitimate "emergency" versus routine requests that could be scheduled for scheduled periods
Implemented task distribution approaches to ensure that tasks was distributed fairly and that not any single person was overburdened with unsustainable demands
Staff effectiveness improved substantially, work happiness improved notably, and this agency actually began delivering higher quality outcomes to the citizens they were supposed to serve.
That important point: companies won't be able to solve productivity problems by showing individuals to operate more effectively successfully within chaotic organizations. Organizations must repair the organizations first.
At this point let's discuss possibly the greatest absurd component of time planning training in poorly-run organizations: the idea that staff can somehow manage tasks when the organization as a whole modifies its focus multiple times per day.
I worked with a software startup where the founder was notorious for having "innovative" insights several times per week and demanding the whole team to instantly redirect to accommodate each new priority.
Staff would show up at their jobs on regularly with a specific awareness of their objectives for the week, only to discover that the management had determined over the weekend that all work they had been concentrating on was suddenly not important and that they must to immediately commence concentrating on a project totally unrelated.
This pattern would happen several times per period. Initiatives that had been stated as "critical" would be dropped halfway through, teams would be repeatedly re-assigned to new initiatives, and massive portions of resources and investment would be squandered on projects that were never delivered.
This company had invested extensively in "agile task organization" training and complex project management systems to assist employees "adapt rapidly" to changing directions.
But absolutely no amount of education or tools could solve the core challenge: you can't efficiently manage perpetually shifting priorities. Continuous shifting is the antithesis of successful planning.
I assisted them implement what I call "Disciplined Priority Management":
Established quarterly priority assessment sessions where important priority modifications could be evaluated and approved
Established strict standards for what represented a legitimate basis for changing agreed-upon priorities beyond the regular planning cycles
Created a "priority protection" time where no changes to set priorities were permitted without emergency justification
Implemented clear coordination protocols for when priority changes were absolutely required, with thorough cost evaluations of what initiatives would be delayed
Required formal sign-off from multiple stakeholders before all significant priority changes could be approved
Their transformation was dramatic. After a quarter, real work delivery percentages increased by more than three times. Staff stress rates fell substantially as staff could actually concentrate on delivering work rather than continuously initiating new ones.
Creativity actually increased because teams had sufficient opportunity to fully explore and test their ideas rather than continuously switching to new initiatives before anything could be fully completed.
This reality: effective planning needs objectives that remain stable long enough for teams to really concentrate on them and complete substantial results.
Here's what I've learned after extensive time in this industry: task organization training is only valuable in workplaces that genuinely have their leadership act working properly.
Once your company has consistent business priorities, achievable workloads, effective decision-making, and processes that enable rather than prevent productive activity, then task organization training can be beneficial.
But if your organization is defined by perpetual crisis management, unclear messages, incompetent coordination, unrealistic demands, and reactive decision-making cultures, then priority organization training is more harmful than ineffective - it's directly harmful because it holds responsible individual performance for organizational incompetence.
Stop squandering time on time management training until you've fixed your organizational direction initially.
Start establishing companies with stable strategic direction, effective leadership, and structures that really enable efficient activity.
Company workers can organize just effectively once you give them priorities worth focusing on and an organization that actually supports them in completing their jobs. overburdened with impossible demands
Staff effectiveness improved dramatically, professional happiness increased considerably, and the organization actually commenced offering better outcomes to the citizens they were intended to serve.
That key lesson: companies won't be able to solve time management challenges by showing employees to work better successfully within broken systems. You need to repair the structures before anything else.
At this point let's examine perhaps the greatest absurd component of time management training in dysfunctional workplaces: the belief that staff can mysteriously manage tasks when the management as a whole changes its direction multiple times per week.
I consulted with a IT startup where the CEO was famous for going through "game-changing" revelations numerous times per period and requiring the whole team to right away pivot to accommodate each new direction.
Workers would arrive at their jobs on any given day with a specific awareness of their objectives for the day, only to discover that the management had determined suddenly that everything they had been focusing on was not important and that they needed to right away commence concentrating on something completely unrelated.
This behavior would happen numerous times per week. Initiatives that had been announced as "critical" would be abandoned halfway through, teams would be continuously re-assigned to alternative work, and massive amounts of time and energy would be lost on work that were ultimately not completed.
This startup had invested significantly in "flexible task planning" training and complex project management systems to enable workers "adapt rapidly" to shifting directions.
However no level of education or systems could solve the core challenge: people won't be able to successfully prioritize continuously changing objectives. Perpetual shifting is the opposite of good planning.
We helped them implement what I call "Focused Direction Stability":
Implemented scheduled planning planning sessions where important strategy changes could be evaluated and approved
Created clear standards for what represented a legitimate basis for modifying established directions beyond the regular assessment cycles
Established a "priority protection" phase where absolutely no changes to set directions were acceptable without extraordinary approval
Created defined coordination procedures for when objective adjustments were absolutely necessary, including full cost analyses of what initiatives would be interrupted
Mandated documented approval from multiple decision-makers before each major strategy shifts could be implemented
This transformation was dramatic. After three months, measurable initiative completion percentages rose by more than three times. Staff burnout levels dropped considerably as employees could at last focus on finishing projects rather than repeatedly initiating new ones.
Product development surprisingly got better because teams had enough time to completely explore and refine their concepts rather than continuously changing to new projects before any work could be fully developed.
The point: good planning demands directions that stay consistent long enough for teams to genuinely work on them and complete significant progress.
Here's what I've concluded after extensive time in this industry: priority planning training is only effective in organizations that genuinely have their leadership systems together.
If your workplace has clear business objectives, reasonable demands, competent management, and structures that facilitate rather than obstruct productive performance, then priority planning training can be helpful.
Yet if your organization is characterized by constant dysfunction, competing priorities, incompetent coordination, excessive expectations, and reactive leadership approaches, then priority management training is worse than pointless - it's actively damaging because it holds responsible individual performance for organizational failures.
Quit squandering time on priority planning training until you've addressed your systemic priorities initially.
Start establishing organizations with clear organizational priorities, functional leadership, and processes that actually enable productive activity.
Company workers would prioritize perfectly effectively once you offer them direction suitable for working toward and an environment that genuinely supports them in doing their jobs.
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