Quit Teaching People to “Manage Tasks” When Your Organization Has Zero Understanding What Really Is Important: The Reason Time Planning Training Is Useless in Dysfunctional Companies
I’ll about to destroy one of the greatest common myths in corporate training: the assumption that showing workers better “task management” methods will solve time management issues in organizations that have zero coherent priorities themselves.
After seventeen years of consulting with businesses on efficiency issues, I can tell you that priority management training in a poorly-run company is like instructing someone to arrange their possessions while their house is actively collapsing around them.
This is the basic problem: nearly all organizations experiencing from efficiency problems don’t have time management challenges – they have leadership dysfunction.
Conventional priority planning training presupposes that companies have well-defined, unchanging objectives that workers can learn to identify and focus with. Such belief is completely disconnected from reality in most modern workplaces.
I consulted with a large communications company where staff were continuously reporting problems about being “struggling to manage their tasks properly.” Executives had poured massive sums on task management training for each employees.
The training included all the standard approaches: priority grids, ABC classification systems, schedule blocking methods, and complex task tracking applications.
But efficiency kept to decline, worker stress instances got higher, and work quality results became more unreliable, not more efficient.
Once I investigated what was genuinely occurring, I found the actual issue: the organization as a whole had zero consistent priorities.
Here’s what the normal reality looked like for employees:
Regularly: Top executives would announce that Project A was the “top priority” and each employee needed to work on it as soon as possible
24 hours later: A separate senior leader would send an “immediate” message stating that Initiative B was really the “most important” focus
Day three: Yet another team manager would call an “emergency” session to declare that Initiative C was a “essential” requirement that needed to be delivered by Friday
Thursday: The original executive executive would express frustration that Project A had not advanced sufficiently and demand to know why staff weren’t “focusing on” it correctly
End of week: All three clients would be delayed, several deadlines would be not met, and workers would be held responsible for “ineffective time management techniques”
That cycle was repeated continuously after week, systematically after month. Zero level of “time management” training was able to assist employees navigate this management dysfunction.
Their core challenge wasn’t that employees couldn’t understand how to manage tasks – it was that the organization as a whole was entirely unable of creating consistent priorities for more than 48 hours at a time.
I persuaded executives to scrap their focus on “employee priority planning” training and instead create what I call “Strategic Priority Management.”
Instead of working to show workers to manage within a constantly changing environment, we concentrated on establishing genuine strategic priorities:
Created a unified executive management committee with defined power for setting and maintaining organizational direction
Created a structured priority assessment procedure that occurred regularly rather than daily
Developed written guidelines for when priorities could be adjusted and what type of sign-off was needed for such adjustments
Established mandatory communication procedures to ensure that all priority adjustments were announced clearly and to everyone across every teams
Implemented stability periods where no focus disruptions were allowed without extraordinary approval
This change was instant and substantial:
Employee overwhelm rates dropped substantially as employees at last understood what they were required to be concentrating on
Productivity improved by nearly significantly within 45 days as staff could actually concentrate on finishing projects rather than continuously changing between competing priorities
Work delivery times improved substantially as departments could organize and complete projects without daily changes and re-prioritization
Client satisfaction improved dramatically as work were genuinely finished according to schedule and to standards
The point: instead of you teach staff to manage tasks, ensure your organization genuinely maintains clear direction that are worth prioritizing.
Let me share one more way that time planning training proves useless in poorly-run companies: by believing that workers have actual control over their time and responsibilities.
We worked with a public sector agency where staff were repeatedly being criticized for “ineffective task planning” and sent to “productivity” training sessions.
The actual situation was that these staff had virtually zero influence over their daily activities. Let me describe what their average schedule seemed like:
About the majority of their workday was taken up by required conferences that they couldn’t decline, no matter of whether these sessions were necessary to their core work
A further significant portion of their schedule was allocated to completing mandatory documentation and bureaucratic obligations that added absolutely no usefulness to their primary responsibilities or to the clients they were intended to help
The leftover small portion of their workday was meant to be used for their actual responsibilities – the tasks they were employed to do and that really was important to the public
But even this small portion of time was constantly invaded by “emergency” demands, last-minute conferences, and management obligations that had no option to be rescheduled
Under these conditions, absolutely no level of “priority planning” training was going to assist these staff become more efficient. Their challenge wasn’t their personal priority management techniques – it was an organizational structure that made meaningful activity virtually impossible.
I worked with them implement organizational reforms to resolve the underlying impediments to effectiveness:
Removed unnecessary sessions and implemented strict standards for when gatherings were genuinely necessary
Streamlined paperwork requirements and eliminated redundant form-filling requirements
Implemented dedicated periods for core work tasks that couldn’t be invaded by non-essential demands
Developed defined procedures for deciding what constituted a genuine “urgent situation” versus routine demands that could wait for designated slots
Created task distribution approaches to ensure that work was distributed equitably and that zero individual was carrying excessive load with impossible workloads
Staff efficiency rose significantly, professional happiness increased notably, and this agency genuinely started providing better results to the public they were intended to support.
That important lesson: organizations won’t be able to solve time management problems by teaching employees to function better efficiently within dysfunctional systems. Organizations have to improve the organizations initially.
At this point let’s examine perhaps the biggest absurd component of time management training in dysfunctional workplaces: the assumption that staff can magically prioritize tasks when the company itself changes its direction several times per month.
The team worked with a technology company where the CEO was notorious for going through “game-changing” revelations numerous times per day and expecting the entire team to instantly shift to implement each new priority.
Employees would show up at their jobs on Monday with a clear knowledge of their priorities for the week, only to learn that the CEO had concluded suddenly that everything they had been concentrating on was suddenly not a priority and that they must to instantly start focusing on something entirely unrelated.
Such pattern would occur several times per month. Projects that had been announced as “critical” would be abandoned halfway through, departments would be constantly redirected to new work, and significant quantities of effort and investment would be wasted on projects that were ultimately not delivered.
This startup had spent significantly in “agile task planning” training and advanced priority management tools to help employees “adjust rapidly” to shifting directions.
Yet absolutely no amount of education or systems could overcome the basic problem: organizations can’t efficiently manage perpetually evolving objectives. Perpetual shifting is the enemy of good planning.
We assisted them establish what I call “Disciplined Objective Consistency”:
Established quarterly priority planning cycles where significant strategy adjustments could be evaluated and implemented
Established firm standards for what constituted a legitimate reason for modifying established directions outside the scheduled review periods
Established a “priority stability” period where absolutely no adjustments to set priorities were acceptable without emergency approval
Created defined notification systems for when priority changes were really essential, including complete impact analyses of what initiatives would be delayed
Required written approval from several decision-makers before any substantial priority changes could be implemented
Their transformation was remarkable. After a quarter, real work success statistics increased by nearly dramatically. Staff burnout levels dropped considerably as employees could finally work on finishing tasks rather than constantly initiating new ones.
Creativity actually got better because teams had sufficient opportunity to fully develop and refine their ideas rather than repeatedly moving to new directions before anything could be fully completed.
This point: good organization demands priorities that keep consistent long enough for employees to genuinely work on them and accomplish substantial progress.
Here’s what I’ve concluded after years in this business: time planning training is merely valuable in workplaces that already have their strategic act together.
If your company has consistent organizational priorities, achievable workloads, competent management, and systems that enable rather than hinder effective performance, then time organization training can be helpful.
But if your workplace is defined by constant dysfunction, unclear directions, incompetent coordination, impossible demands, and emergency management approaches, then task management training is worse than pointless – it’s systematically destructive because it blames employee performance for organizational incompetence.
End wasting money on task organization training until you’ve resolved your systemic priorities first.
Focus on building companies with clear business focus, competent leadership, and systems that actually facilitate productive work.
Your staff would manage tasks extremely well once you provide them direction worth working toward and an organization that really enables them in completing their jobs. overwhelmed with impossible responsibilities
Staff effectiveness rose significantly, work happiness improved substantially, and this organization actually began providing improved results to the public they were intended to serve.
This important insight: organizations won’t be able to solve time management challenges by teaching employees to work more successfully within broken organizations. Organizations need to improve the organizations before anything else.
At this point let’s address probably the biggest laughable aspect of time planning training in chaotic organizations: the idea that workers can mysteriously organize tasks when the organization at leadership level modifies its focus multiple times per day.
The team consulted with a technology startup where the CEO was notorious for having “game-changing” revelations multiple times per period and expecting the entire team to instantly pivot to implement each new idea.
Staff would show up at their jobs on any given day with a specific understanding of their tasks for the day, only to discover that the CEO had determined overnight that everything they had been focusing on was no longer important and that they must to instantly commence working on something entirely different.
Such cycle would repeat several times per week. Initiatives that had been announced as “essential” would be forgotten mid-stream, departments would be constantly re-assigned to alternative initiatives, and significant quantities of effort and energy would be squandered on projects that were never finished.
This company had invested heavily in “adaptive work organization” training and complex project tracking software to help employees “adjust rapidly” to evolving requirements.
But absolutely no level of training or systems could solve the fundamental problem: organizations cannot efficiently organize perpetually shifting priorities. Perpetual change is the antithesis of successful planning.
We helped them implement what I call “Focused Direction Stability”:
Created quarterly priority planning periods where important direction adjustments could be discussed and approved
Developed clear standards for what qualified as a legitimate reason for adjusting agreed-upon objectives apart from the regular planning periods
Implemented a “direction consistency” phase where absolutely no modifications to established directions were allowed without extraordinary approval
Established defined coordination systems for when objective adjustments were really necessary, with full impact analyses of what projects would be abandoned
Required written sign-off from several stakeholders before each substantial priority changes could be implemented
This transformation was dramatic. After a quarter, real initiative delivery statistics increased by over dramatically. Worker frustration levels decreased considerably as people could actually work on delivering work rather than continuously starting new ones.
Innovation surprisingly increased because departments had enough opportunity to completely develop and test their solutions rather than repeatedly changing to new initiatives before any work could be fully developed.
That reality: effective prioritization demands directions that stay stable long enough for teams to actually concentrate on them and accomplish meaningful results.
Here’s what I’ve concluded after extensive time in this field: priority organization training is exclusively effective in companies that already have their leadership act together.
If your organization has consistent business direction, reasonable demands, competent leadership, and processes that support rather than prevent productive work, then time organization training can be helpful.
Yet if your organization is characterized by continuous dysfunction, conflicting directions, incompetent organization, unrealistic demands, and reactive management cultures, then time management training is more counterproductive than pointless – it’s directly damaging because it faults employee behavior for organizational incompetence.
End squandering time on task organization training until you’ve addressed your organizational priorities first.
Start establishing workplaces with clear organizational focus, functional decision-making, and structures that actually facilitate meaningful accomplishment.
Your staff would prioritize extremely well once you offer them something suitable for working toward and an organization that really facilitates them in accomplishing their jobs.
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