Quit Teaching People to “Organize” When Your Business Has Zero Understanding What Really Matters: The Reason Task Organization Training Fails in Chaotic Organizations
I’m about to destroy one of the greatest popular false beliefs in workplace training: the idea that showing staff more effective “task management” skills will solve efficiency challenges in organizations that have absolutely no consistent priorities themselves.
Following extensive experience of working with organizations on time management problems, I can tell you that priority planning training in a chaotic company is like teaching someone to organize their belongings while their house is literally on fire around them.
Here’s the fundamental problem: nearly all businesses experiencing from productivity crises don’t have productivity problems – they have organizational dysfunction.
Conventional time management training presupposes that organizations have clear, stable goals that workers can be taught to understand and work toward. That assumption is entirely separated from the real world in nearly all current workplaces.
The team consulted with a significant communications agency where workers were continuously reporting problems about being “struggling to prioritize their responsibilities successfully.” Leadership had poured massive sums on task organization training for each employees.
The training covered all the standard techniques: priority systems, ABC ranking approaches, schedule blocking strategies, and complex project management software.
However performance remained to drop, staff frustration levels got higher, and project quality results became worse, not improved.
After I examined what was really going on, I discovered the actual problem: the company as a whole had absolutely no stable strategic focus.
Here’s what the typical experience looked like for workers:
Monday: Top leadership would announce that Client A was the “top priority” and all staff must to focus on it as soon as possible
The next day: A separate top manager would distribute an “urgent” message insisting that Client B was actually the “highest essential” objective
48 hours later: Yet another division leader would schedule an “immediate” conference to communicate that Initiative C was a “essential” deadline that had to be delivered by immediately
The following day: The first top leader would show disappointment that Project A hadn’t been completed as expected and demand to know why employees were not “prioritizing” it as instructed
End of week: Every three clients would be incomplete, multiple deliverables would be missed, and employees would be criticized for “inadequate time planning techniques”
This pattern was repeated continuously after week, systematically after month. No level of “time management” training was going to enable staff handle this management chaos.
The fundamental issue wasn’t that employees couldn’t understand how to manage tasks – it was that the organization as a whole was totally incapable of creating stable strategic focus for more than 48 hours at a time.
I convinced leadership to abandon their focus on “employee task organization” training and instead establish what I call “Organizational Focus Management.”
In place of attempting to teach staff to prioritize within a constantly changing environment, we concentrated on creating actual company priorities:
Established a unified senior decision-making group with specific power for establishing and enforcing company focus
Created a systematic priority assessment process that took place monthly rather than constantly
Created clear standards for when priorities could be adjusted and what type of approval was required for such modifications
Established enforced coordination systems to ensure that all priority adjustments were announced explicitly and uniformly across all teams
Established protection periods where absolutely no focus changes were permitted without exceptional approval
Their change was instant and outstanding:
Employee stress instances dropped significantly as staff at last were clear about what they were expected to be concentrating on
Efficiency rose by more than 50% within 45 days as employees could genuinely focus on completing work rather than repeatedly redirecting between conflicting priorities
Project quality times improved considerably as teams could plan and complete work without continuous disruptions and redirection
External satisfaction increased significantly as projects were actually delivered as promised and to specification
That lesson: instead of you teach people to organize, make sure your organization really has consistent direction that are deserving of focusing on.
Let me share another approach that priority planning training proves useless in dysfunctional companies: by believing that employees have actual power over their work and tasks.
The team consulted with a public sector organization where workers were constantly being reprimanded for “inadequate task management” and required to “time management” training courses.
This actual situation was that these employees had essentially zero authority over their job time. Let me describe what their typical schedule seemed like:
About three-fifths of their workday was taken up by required sessions that they had no option to decline, no matter of whether these sessions were necessary to their real work
Another significant portion of their time was assigned to processing required reports and bureaucratic obligations that contributed zero value to their real work or to the citizens they were meant to help
The remaining small portion of their schedule was supposed to be dedicated for their actual work – the activities they were paid to do and that really was important to the public
However even this limited fraction of availability was regularly interrupted by “immediate” demands, last-minute meetings, and management obligations that couldn’t be postponed
Given these conditions, no degree of “time management” training was going to enable these staff become more productive. Their problem wasn’t their employee time planning skills – it was an organizational system that rendered productive accomplishment virtually unattainable.
The team worked with them implement systematic improvements to resolve the real impediments to efficiency:
Eliminated pointless meetings and established specific standards for when conferences were really necessary
Simplified paperwork requirements and got rid of redundant reporting procedures
Created dedicated time for real professional activities that would not be interrupted by administrative tasks
Created specific systems for determining what qualified as a real “immediate priority” versus routine tasks that could be scheduled for appropriate periods
Created workload sharing systems to ensure that work was distributed equitably and that no single person was overburdened with unsustainable demands
Employee effectiveness rose dramatically, job satisfaction improved notably, and this agency finally commenced offering better outcomes to the community they were supposed to serve.
The crucial lesson: you can’t address productivity problems by training employees to function better successfully within dysfunctional systems. Organizations have to fix the structures before anything else.
At this point let’s discuss possibly the most absurd aspect of time planning training in poorly-run workplaces: the assumption that staff can mysteriously prioritize responsibilities when the management as a whole changes its focus numerous times per month.
I consulted with a IT startup where the founder was notorious for experiencing “brilliant” ideas numerous times per period and expecting the whole organization to immediately pivot to accommodate each new idea.
Workers would arrive at work on Monday with a clear knowledge of their objectives for the week, only to discover that the leadership had determined over the weekend that everything they had been concentrating on was not important and that they needed to instantly begin concentrating on a project entirely unrelated.
This pattern would occur numerous times per period. Initiatives that had been announced as “critical” would be dropped mid-stream, departments would be continuously moved to new projects, and enormous amounts of resources and work would be lost on initiatives that were never delivered.
The startup had poured heavily in “flexible project planning” training and sophisticated task management software to assist employees “respond efficiently” to changing priorities.
But absolutely no degree of education or tools could address the core issue: organizations can’t successfully prioritize perpetually evolving objectives. Constant shifting is the antithesis of good prioritization.
I assisted them implement what I call “Strategic Objective Consistency”:
Implemented regular planning planning periods where major strategy changes could be discussed and adopted
Created firm standards for what qualified as a valid basis for modifying agreed-upon objectives apart from the scheduled planning cycles
Implemented a “priority consistency” phase where no changes to current directions were allowed without extraordinary justification
Implemented clear coordination protocols for when direction adjustments were absolutely necessary, featuring thorough impact evaluations of what work would be abandoned
Mandated written authorization from multiple stakeholders before all major priority modifications could be approved
Their transformation was outstanding. Within three months, measurable work success statistics rose by nearly 300%. Staff frustration rates decreased significantly as employees could at last work on finishing tasks rather than constantly initiating new ones.
Product development remarkably increased because departments had sufficient opportunity to completely explore and evaluate their solutions rather than continuously switching to new projects before any project could be adequately developed.
That lesson: successful prioritization needs directions that remain stable long enough for employees to really focus on them and complete significant progress.
This is what I’ve learned after years in this business: priority planning training is only useful in organizations that currently have their strategic systems together.
If your company has clear strategic direction, realistic demands, functional leadership, and systems that support rather than hinder productive performance, then task planning training can be useful.
However if your workplace is defined by perpetual crisis management, competing priorities, incompetent coordination, impossible demands, and emergency management approaches, then time planning training is more counterproductive than useless – it’s systematically damaging because it faults employee behavior for leadership dysfunction.
Quit throwing away time on priority management training until you’ve fixed your systemic priorities first.
Start building workplaces with stable strategic priorities, functional decision-making, and processes that actually support meaningful work.
The workers would manage tasks just effectively once you provide them something worth focusing on and an organization that really facilitates them in accomplishing their jobs. carrying excessive load with unsustainable workloads
Employee productivity rose dramatically, work fulfillment got better considerably, and the organization actually began delivering higher quality services to the community they were supposed to help.
That key insight: companies can’t address time management issues by showing employees to operate more effectively productively within dysfunctional organizations. Organizations must repair the structures first.
At this point let’s discuss perhaps the most absurd element of task planning training in chaotic organizations: the assumption that workers can somehow manage responsibilities when the company itself changes its focus multiple times per day.
I worked with a software startup where the executive leadership was famous for going through “innovative” insights multiple times per week and requiring the whole team to right away redirect to accommodate each new priority.
Workers would come at the office on any given day with a defined awareness of their objectives for the week, only to discover that the management had concluded over the weekend that all work they had been concentrating on was suddenly not a priority and that they must to right away begin focusing on a project completely new.
Such cycle would happen multiple times per period. Initiatives that had been stated as “essential” would be abandoned mid-stream, departments would be continuously re-assigned to different work, and massive amounts of resources and work would be lost on projects that were not delivered.
Their organization had poured significantly in “adaptive project management” training and complex priority management systems to help workers “adapt rapidly” to shifting requirements.
However zero amount of skill development or tools could address the basic problem: people can’t effectively organize continuously evolving priorities. Continuous modification is the antithesis of effective planning.
The team assisted them implement what I call “Focused Priority Stability”:
Established quarterly priority review periods where important strategy changes could be discussed and implemented
Established strict criteria for what qualified as a legitimate basis for changing agreed-upon priorities apart from the scheduled assessment periods
Established a “direction stability” phase where no adjustments to set objectives were acceptable without exceptional circumstances
Established specific coordination protocols for when direction adjustments were really required, featuring full impact assessments of what initiatives would be delayed
Established written sign-off from senior leaders before each significant priority modifications could be implemented
The improvement was remarkable. In a quarter, actual work success percentages improved by nearly 300%. Worker burnout instances dropped considerably as employees could at last concentrate on delivering projects rather than continuously initiating new ones.
Product development surprisingly increased because teams had sufficient opportunity to thoroughly develop and test their concepts rather than continuously moving to new initiatives before anything could be adequately developed.
The point: good planning needs priorities that remain consistent long enough for people to actually work on them and accomplish meaningful progress.
Here’s what I’ve discovered after years in this field: task planning training is merely useful in companies that already have their leadership act together.
Once your company has stable organizational objectives, realistic demands, competent decision-making, and systems that facilitate rather than hinder efficient activity, then task management training can be useful.
But if your company is defined by continuous chaos, unclear priorities, inadequate organization, excessive demands, and reactive decision-making cultures, then time organization training is more counterproductive than pointless – it’s systematically harmful because it blames personal performance for organizational dysfunction.
Quit throwing away time on time planning training until you’ve resolved your organizational dysfunction first.
Start establishing companies with clear business focus, competent decision-making, and processes that actually facilitate efficient activity.
Your employees will organize just fine once you provide them direction deserving of working toward and an workplace that really supports them in accomplishing their responsibilities.
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