Maude Ennor

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How Time Planning Training Is Useless in Poorly-Run Organizations

 

End Teaching People to "Manage Tasks" When Your Organization Has Absolutely No Clue What Actually Is Important: How Priority Planning Training Doesn't Work in Dysfunctional Companies

 

 

I'll ready to demolish one of the greatest popular false beliefs in organizational training: the assumption that teaching workers improved "time organization" techniques will fix productivity problems in workplaces that have absolutely no clear strategic focus themselves.

 

 

After nearly two decades of consulting with businesses on productivity challenges, I can tell you that time planning training in a dysfunctional workplace is like showing someone to organize their items while their building is literally burning down around them.

 

 

Here's the basic reality: most businesses suffering from time management problems cannot have productivity problems - they have organizational problems.

 

 

Conventional priority management training assumes that organizations have well-defined, stable goals that staff can be trained to recognize and focus with. That belief is entirely separated from reality in nearly all contemporary organizations.

 

 

I worked with a significant communications company where employees were repeatedly complaining about being "failing to manage their responsibilities effectively." Executives had invested massive sums on priority planning training for each employees.

 

 

The training featured all the usual techniques: priority grids, ABC categorization methods, calendar management strategies, and sophisticated work management applications.

 

 

Yet productivity kept to get worse, worker overwhelm rates got higher, and project delivery times turned more unreliable, not more efficient.

 

 

Once I examined what was genuinely going on, I discovered the actual cause: the company at the leadership level had absolutely no stable priorities.

 

 

This is what the normal situation looked like for employees:

 

 

Monday: Executive executives would communicate that Project A was the "top priority" and all staff should to focus on it immediately

 

 

Tuesday: A separate top leader would send an "immediate" message declaring that Project B was actually the "highest critical" focus

 

 

Wednesday: A third department leader would call an "emergency" meeting to announce that Initiative C was a "must-have" deliverable that required to be delivered by Friday

 

 

Thursday: The original executive leader would voice anger that Project A had not advanced sufficiently and demand to know why staff were not "focusing on" it properly

 

 

Friday: Each three projects would be delayed, several deadlines would be missed, and employees would be blamed for "inadequate time organization skills"

 

 

That cycle was happening continuously after week, systematically after month. No amount of "time management" training was able to assist employees manage this organizational dysfunction.

 

 

This basic problem wasn't that employees did not know how to manage tasks - it was that the organization itself was totally failing of establishing stable priorities for more than 24 hours at a time.

 

 

We persuaded leadership to scrap their focus on "employee priority organization" training and instead create what I call "Strategic Direction Clarity."

 

 

Rather than trying to show workers to manage within a dysfunctional environment, we worked on establishing genuine organizational direction:

 

 

Created a unified senior management team with clear authority for determining and preserving company direction

 

 

Created a systematic initiative review process that occurred monthly rather than whenever someone felt like it

 

 

Established clear guidelines for when initiatives could be changed and what degree of authorization was required for such changes

 

 

Created mandatory communication procedures to ensure that all project modifications were shared clearly and uniformly across every levels

 

 

Implemented protection phases where absolutely no project modifications were allowed without emergency approval

 

 

This change was immediate and substantial:

 

 

Worker overwhelm levels decreased substantially as staff for the first time understood what they were supposed to be focusing on

 

 

Efficiency increased by over significantly within a month and a half as employees could genuinely concentrate on delivering tasks rather than repeatedly changing between competing requests

 

 

Client delivery schedules improved considerably as staff could plan and execute projects without daily disruptions and redirection

 

 

Client relationships got better significantly as projects were genuinely finished on time and to standards

 

 

This lesson: before you show employees to organize, guarantee your leadership genuinely possesses stable priorities that are worth working toward.

 

 

This is a different method that task management training proves useless in chaotic companies: by assuming that workers have actual control over their time and tasks.

 

 

I consulted with a government agency where workers were repeatedly receiving criticized for "inadequate priority organization" and required to "efficiency" training sessions.

 

 

Their reality was that these employees had almost absolutely no authority over their job activities. Here's what their typical day looked like:

 

 

Roughly 60% of their time was consumed by mandatory meetings that they were not allowed to avoid, irrespective of whether these meetings were useful to their core job

 

 

A further significant portion of their time was allocated to completing required forms and bureaucratic obligations that provided absolutely no value to their real job or to the clients they were supposed to serve

 

 

Their remaining one-fifth of their time was expected to be allocated for their real work - the work they were employed to do and that genuinely made a difference to the organization

 

 

But even this tiny portion of time was regularly disrupted by "urgent" requirements, last-minute meetings, and administrative demands that couldn't be delayed

 

 

With these circumstances, zero level of "task planning" training was going to enable these employees become more effective. The challenge wasn't their employee priority planning skills - it was an institutional structure that made efficient activity essentially unattainable.

 

 

I assisted them create systematic reforms to address the actual impediments to effectiveness:

 

 

Removed unnecessary meetings and implemented strict requirements for when meetings were genuinely required

 

 

Streamlined administrative requirements and got rid of unnecessary documentation procedures

 

 

Implemented dedicated periods for actual job tasks that were not allowed to be disrupted by administrative tasks

 

 

Established specific protocols for determining what qualified as a real "urgent situation" versus standard requests that could be scheduled for scheduled slots

 

 

Implemented delegation processes to guarantee that tasks was shared equitably and that no single person was overburdened with impossible demands

 

 

Staff effectiveness increased significantly, professional happiness got better considerably, and their department genuinely began providing better results to the community they were intended to support.

 

 

This important lesson: you cannot fix time management issues by showing people to work better successfully within dysfunctional organizations. Companies must fix the systems before anything else.

 

 

Currently let's discuss probably the most absurd element of time management training in poorly-run organizations: the belief that workers can somehow manage work when the organization at leadership level modifies its direction numerous times per day.

 

 

I consulted with a software business where the founder was famous for experiencing "game-changing" insights numerous times per day and requiring the complete company to right away pivot to accommodate each new idea.

 

 

Workers would show up at their jobs on Monday with a clear awareness of their objectives for the week, only to learn that the management had concluded suddenly that everything they had been concentrating on was no longer relevant and that they needed to right away begin focusing on an initiative totally different.

 

 

That pattern would repeat multiple times per period. Projects that had been declared as "highest priority" would be forgotten mid-stream, groups would be continuously moved to different initiatives, and massive quantities of time and energy would be lost on initiatives that were never completed.

 

 

Their company had spent significantly in "agile project management" training and complex priority tracking software to assist workers "adjust rapidly" to changing requirements.

 

 

But no degree of education or tools could overcome the basic challenge: organizations won't be able to successfully manage perpetually evolving priorities. Continuous modification is the antithesis of good organization.

 

 

I worked with them establish what I call "Disciplined Objective Consistency":

 

 

Created quarterly planning assessment periods where major direction adjustments could be evaluated and adopted

 

 

Developed firm standards for what qualified as a valid basis for changing set priorities apart from the scheduled assessment sessions

 

 

Implemented a "priority protection" phase where no modifications to set objectives were allowed without extraordinary circumstances

 

 

Implemented specific coordination protocols for when priority adjustments were absolutely required, with thorough cost assessments of what projects would be interrupted

 

 

Required formal sign-off from multiple leaders before any major strategy changes could be enacted

 

 

The transformation was dramatic. After a quarter, actual work delivery statistics improved by more than three times. Worker burnout levels dropped substantially as employees could at last work on delivering tasks rather than constantly beginning new ones.

 

 

Creativity actually improved because teams had adequate time to fully explore and refine their ideas rather than constantly changing to new directions before anything could be properly completed.

 

 

The reality: successful organization requires directions that stay stable long enough for teams to really concentrate on them and complete significant progress.

 

 

Here's what I've concluded after extensive time in this industry: task management training is only valuable in organizations that genuinely have their leadership act functioning.

 

 

Once your company has consistent organizational objectives, realistic expectations, competent leadership, and processes that support rather than prevent effective activity, then time management training can be useful.

 

 

But if your workplace is defined by constant crisis management, competing directions, inadequate planning, excessive expectations, and emergency management approaches, then priority organization training is worse than ineffective - it's actively destructive because it faults employee performance for leadership incompetence.

 

 

End wasting money on priority organization training until you've fixed your organizational dysfunction first.

 

 

Start building companies with clear strategic direction, functional leadership, and systems that really facilitate efficient accomplishment.

 

 

Company workers can organize just fine once you offer them priorities deserving of focusing on and an workplace that really facilitates them in completing their jobs. carrying excessive load with unsustainable workloads

 

 

Worker efficiency improved significantly, job happiness improved notably, and the agency actually started providing better outcomes to the citizens they were intended to help.

 

 

This important lesson: organizations cannot solve time management problems by training individuals to operate more effectively productively within broken organizations. You must repair the structures before anything else.

 

 

Currently let's examine perhaps the most laughable element of priority organization training in chaotic companies: the idea that staff can magically organize tasks when the organization itself modifies its direction multiple times per week.

 

 

The team consulted with a IT company where the executive leadership was well-known for having "game-changing" revelations numerous times per period and requiring the whole organization to immediately shift to pursue each new direction.

 

 

Employees would arrive at the office on regularly with a defined understanding of their objectives for the period, only to discover that the leadership had decided over the weekend that all priorities they had been working on was not relevant and that they must to right away start working on something entirely new.

 

 

Such behavior would occur several times per week. Initiatives that had been announced as "critical" would be forgotten before completion, departments would be continuously redirected to different initiatives, and massive amounts of effort and energy would be lost on work that were never completed.

 

 

Their organization had invested extensively in "agile work organization" training and sophisticated priority organization software to enable employees "adapt rapidly" to changing priorities.

 

 

But zero degree of training or software could address the core issue: people won't be able to successfully manage continuously evolving directions. Continuous change is the opposite of successful organization.

 

 

We assisted them implement what I call "Disciplined Objective Consistency":

 

 

Established regular priority planning sessions where important priority adjustments could be discussed and adopted

 

 

Established clear standards for what constituted a genuine basis for changing agreed-upon objectives beyond the regular assessment sessions

 

 

Implemented a "direction consistency" period where absolutely no modifications to set priorities were acceptable without extraordinary circumstances

 

 

Established specific communication procedures for when direction modifications were genuinely necessary, with full cost evaluations of what work would be interrupted

 

 

Mandated formal approval from senior decision-makers before each substantial priority changes could be enacted

 

 

This change was remarkable. After three months, measurable project delivery percentages rose by nearly three times. Worker burnout rates fell substantially as people could at last focus on finishing projects rather than continuously beginning new ones.

 

 

Innovation remarkably got better because groups had enough opportunity to fully develop and test their ideas rather than continuously moving to new directions before any project could be adequately developed.

 

 

The point: successful planning needs objectives that keep stable long enough for teams to actually focus on them and accomplish significant progress.

 

 

Let me share what I've discovered after extensive time in this industry: task organization training is merely useful in workplaces that currently have their leadership priorities working properly.

 

 

If your organization has clear business priorities, achievable workloads, competent decision-making, and systems that support rather than prevent effective performance, then time planning training can be beneficial.

 

 

Yet if your company is characterized by perpetual crisis management, competing directions, incompetent planning, unrealistic workloads, and reactive leadership approaches, then priority management training is worse than useless - it's actively damaging because it blames individual choices for systemic incompetence.

 

 

Stop squandering resources on task organization training until you've resolved your organizational direction first.

 

 

Start building organizations with stable organizational priorities, competent leadership, and systems that genuinely support meaningful accomplishment.

 

 

Company staff will organize just effectively once you provide them priorities suitable for focusing on and an organization that actually supports them in accomplishing their responsibilities.

 

 

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