End Teaching People to “Prioritize” When Your Organization Has Absolutely No Clue What Genuinely Is Important: How Time Planning Training Fails in Dysfunctional Organizations
I’m ready to dismantle one of the most widespread false beliefs in workplace training: the assumption that training staff improved “time organization” techniques will fix efficiency issues in companies that have zero coherent strategic focus themselves.
With extensive experience of working with businesses on productivity problems, I can tell you that time management training in a dysfunctional workplace is like showing someone to organize their belongings while their building is literally on fire around them.
This is the basic problem: nearly all companies experiencing from efficiency crises cannot have time management problems – they have management failures.
Standard task planning training believes that companies have well-defined, reliable priorities that staff can learn to understand and focus with. Such assumption is entirely separated from actual workplace conditions in nearly all contemporary workplaces.
We consulted with a significant marketing agency where workers were continuously complaining about being “failing to manage their responsibilities properly.” Management had poured massive sums on priority management training for every workers.
The training covered all the standard techniques: Eisenhower systems, ABC ranking methods, time management techniques, and detailed project organization applications.
But performance continued to get worse, employee overwhelm levels increased, and work delivery times turned worse, not better.
After I investigated what was really happening, I discovered the actual cause: the agency as a whole had no consistent direction.
Here’s what the daily reality looked like for staff:
Regularly: Executive management would announce that Initiative A was the “top objective” and all staff should to work on it right away
24 hours later: A different top manager would announce an “immediate” communication insisting that Project B was now the “top critical” focus
Day three: Another different department manager would organize an “immediate” conference to announce that Project C was a “must-have” deliverable that needed to be finished by immediately
Day four: The first executive leader would show anger that Initiative A was not been completed enough and require to know why employees weren’t “prioritizing” it correctly
By week’s end: All three projects would be behind, multiple commitments would be not met, and staff would be blamed for “inadequate time planning skills”
That cycle was repeated continuously after week, month after month. Absolutely no degree of “priority management” training was going to help employees handle this systemic chaos.
The core challenge wasn’t that employees couldn’t know how to prioritize – it was that the company as a whole was completely incapable of maintaining stable direction for more than 72 hours at a time.
The team helped leadership to abandon their concentration on “individual task planning” training and alternatively establish what I call “Organizational Priority Systems.”
Rather than attempting to train employees to prioritize within a constantly changing system, we focused on establishing real strategic direction:
Created a central senior management group with specific authority for establishing and preserving company focus
Established a systematic initiative assessment process that took place monthly rather than daily
Developed clear criteria for when priorities could be changed and what degree of sign-off was needed for such changes
Established enforced communication protocols to guarantee that each project changes were communicated clearly and to everyone across all levels
Implemented stability phases where zero priority modifications were acceptable without extraordinary justification
The change was remarkable and outstanding:
Employee frustration levels decreased dramatically as staff for the first time were clear about what they were supposed to be concentrating on
Productivity increased by over significantly within six weeks as employees could really focus on delivering work rather than constantly switching between conflicting requests
Client delivery times got better significantly as teams could organize and complete tasks without constant interruptions and redirection
Customer happiness got better significantly as projects were actually completed as promised and to specification
The reality: prior to you show employees to manage tasks, make sure your organization genuinely has clear direction that are worth focusing on.
Let me share one more way that time organization training proves useless in chaotic companies: by presupposing that staff have genuine authority over their schedule and tasks.
I worked with a public sector agency where workers were constantly getting reprimanded for “inadequate time organization” and required to “efficiency” training courses.
Their truth was that these workers had almost no control over their job schedules. Here’s what their average schedule seemed like:
Roughly three-fifths of their workday was occupied by required sessions that they were not allowed to decline, regardless of whether these conferences were necessary to their core work
A further significant portion of their schedule was allocated to completing bureaucratic documentation and paperwork tasks that contributed zero value to their actual work or to the clients they were supposed to assist
Their final small portion of their workday was expected to be allocated for their actual work – the tasks they were hired to do and that genuinely was important to the organization
However even this tiny amount of availability was continuously interrupted by “immediate” requirements, last-minute conferences, and bureaucratic demands that couldn’t be postponed
With these circumstances, absolutely no level of “priority management” training was able to assist these employees become more effective. Their challenge wasn’t their individual task management skills – it was an systemic structure that ensured productive work essentially unachievable.
I assisted them implement organizational reforms to resolve the actual barriers to productivity:
Eliminated redundant conferences and established clear criteria for when meetings were really necessary
Reduced administrative obligations and eliminated duplicate form-filling requirements
Created reserved periods for real professional activities that couldn’t be disrupted by meetings
Created defined systems for deciding what qualified as a legitimate “emergency” versus standard demands that could wait for appropriate times
Created workload sharing processes to ensure that work was shared fairly and that no employee was overburdened with unrealistic demands
Staff effectiveness rose significantly, job satisfaction increased substantially, and their organization genuinely began delivering better results to the public they were supposed to support.
That crucial insight: you cannot solve time management issues by training individuals to work more successfully within dysfunctional structures. You have to fix the systems before anything else.
Now let’s address perhaps the biggest absurd component of priority organization training in chaotic workplaces: the idea that employees can magically manage responsibilities when the company as a whole shifts its focus multiple times per day.
We consulted with a software business where the CEO was famous for going through “innovative” revelations multiple times per day and expecting the complete organization to right away redirect to implement each new priority.
Workers would come at the office on regularly with a clear knowledge of their objectives for the week, only to discover that the leadership had determined overnight that all priorities they had been concentrating on was no longer relevant and that they should to instantly start working on a project completely new.
This behavior would repeat multiple times per period. Work that had been declared as “essential” would be forgotten halfway through, groups would be repeatedly redirected to new projects, and significant quantities of resources and investment would be squandered on projects that were never completed.
This organization had invested heavily in “agile work management” training and sophisticated project organization software to assist workers “adapt efficiently” to evolving directions.
But absolutely no level of training or tools could solve the fundamental challenge: you can’t successfully manage perpetually changing objectives. Perpetual change is the opposite of effective prioritization.
We assisted them create what I call “Disciplined Direction Stability”:
Implemented regular strategic assessment periods where important priority changes could be evaluated and implemented
Established firm requirements for what qualified as a genuine justification for adjusting set objectives outside the planned planning cycles
Established a “objective stability” period where no adjustments to current priorities were allowed without extraordinary approval
Established specific communication systems for when priority adjustments were genuinely necessary, including full cost analyses of what work would be interrupted
Required documented sign-off from multiple decision-makers before all substantial strategy modifications could be enacted
Their change was outstanding. After three months, real initiative delivery statistics improved by over 300%. Staff frustration levels decreased substantially as people could finally work on delivering work rather than repeatedly beginning new ones.
Innovation actually got better because teams had enough opportunity to thoroughly implement and refine their concepts rather than constantly moving to new projects before anything could be adequately developed.
The point: good prioritization demands directions that remain consistent long enough for employees to genuinely concentrate on them and achieve significant results.
This is what I’ve discovered after extensive time in this industry: time planning training is merely effective in workplaces that genuinely have their leadership priorities together.
If your company has consistent organizational priorities, realistic workloads, effective leadership, and structures that facilitate rather than hinder productive activity, then time planning training can be helpful.
But if your workplace is marked by perpetual chaos, competing directions, poor coordination, unrealistic workloads, and crisis-driven management cultures, then task management training is more counterproductive than ineffective – it’s directly destructive because it blames employee performance for organizational incompetence.
End throwing away money on time organization training until you’ve resolved your leadership dysfunction first.
Start establishing companies with consistent strategic focus, effective management, and structures that really enable meaningful accomplishment.
The staff can manage tasks just effectively once you provide them something worth working toward and an workplace that really supports them in doing their jobs. carrying excessive load with unrealistic responsibilities
Employee efficiency rose dramatically, work happiness got better substantially, and their agency finally began providing higher quality results to the community they were intended to serve.
The key point: companies can’t address productivity problems by showing individuals to operate more effectively successfully within chaotic systems. Organizations have to improve the organizations before anything else.
Currently let’s discuss probably the most absurd component of time organization training in chaotic companies: the idea that employees can somehow manage work when the company itself shifts its direction several times per week.
I worked with a IT company where the executive leadership was famous for having “brilliant” insights multiple times per day and expecting the whole company to immediately pivot to accommodate each new priority.
Staff would arrive at the office on regularly with a specific knowledge of their tasks for the day, only to learn that the leadership had determined over the weekend that all work they had been working on was suddenly not relevant and that they needed to right away start working on a project completely unrelated.
That pattern would occur several times per week. Initiatives that had been declared as “highest priority” would be dropped mid-stream, teams would be repeatedly re-assigned to new projects, and massive amounts of resources and investment would be lost on work that were never delivered.
The organization had poured heavily in “flexible project management” training and advanced priority tracking systems to help employees “respond rapidly” to changing requirements.
But zero amount of education or tools could address the fundamental challenge: organizations cannot efficiently organize continuously evolving objectives. Continuous shifting is the enemy of good organization.
We worked with them establish what I call “Disciplined Priority Management”:
Created quarterly priority assessment sessions where major strategy changes could be discussed and adopted
Established strict standards for what constituted a valid basis for changing agreed-upon directions apart from the planned planning periods
Implemented a “direction stability” phase where absolutely no adjustments to set priorities were permitted without extraordinary circumstances
Established clear coordination procedures for when objective adjustments were absolutely necessary, including thorough impact evaluations of what initiatives would be abandoned
Established documented authorization from several leaders before all major priority modifications could be enacted
This change was dramatic. Within three months, real project completion percentages increased by over dramatically. Employee frustration instances decreased significantly as employees could finally focus on finishing projects rather than continuously starting new ones.
Creativity remarkably improved because groups had enough time to completely develop and refine their ideas rather than continuously switching to new directions before any project could be fully finished.
That lesson: effective prioritization needs priorities that stay stable long enough for employees to genuinely work on them and accomplish meaningful outcomes.
This is what I’ve discovered after extensive time in this business: priority planning training is merely effective in organizations that already have their leadership priorities functioning.
If your organization has consistent organizational direction, achievable expectations, functional decision-making, and systems that enable rather than hinder productive performance, then priority planning training can be beneficial.
Yet if your company is defined by constant chaos, unclear priorities, poor planning, unrealistic expectations, and reactive management approaches, then priority organization training is more harmful than pointless – it’s systematically harmful because it holds responsible personal behavior for organizational incompetence.
End wasting money on priority planning training until you’ve addressed your leadership dysfunction first.
Focus on creating organizations with stable business focus, functional decision-making, and structures that actually support efficient accomplishment.
Company employees can organize extremely effectively once you provide them something worth focusing on and an workplace that actually facilitates them in accomplishing their work.
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