Stop Teaching People to “Organize” When Your Organization Has Zero Clue What Actually Is Important: How Time Management Training Doesn’t Work in Dysfunctional Companies

Let me ready to destroy one of the greatest common false beliefs in workplace training: the assumption that training employees improved “time organization” methods will solve productivity challenges in organizations that have zero coherent strategic focus themselves.

With extensive experience of working with organizations on productivity problems, I can tell you that priority organization training in a poorly-run company is like showing someone to organize their items while their house is actively collapsing around them.

Here’s the core reality: the majority of companies experiencing from productivity problems don’t have productivity issues – they have management problems.

Conventional priority management training assumes that organizations have consistent, reliable goals that staff can learn to understand and work toward. Such belief is completely disconnected from the real world in nearly all current organizations.

We consulted with a major marketing agency where employees were continuously expressing frustration about being “failing to prioritize their responsibilities effectively.” Leadership had invested massive sums on time management training for all staff.

Their training included all the typical approaches: urgency-importance systems, task categorization systems, schedule management techniques, and complex task organization systems.

However efficiency kept to drop, employee overwhelm levels rose, and work delivery times got worse, not improved.

After I investigated what was really occurring, I found the underlying problem: the company at the leadership level had no stable priorities.

Let me share what the typical experience looked like for employees:

Each week: Top leadership would declare that Initiative A was the “top priority” and all staff needed to work on it as soon as possible

24 hours later: A another executive leader would announce an “urgent” email stating that Project B was now the “highest critical” objective

Wednesday: A third department leader would organize an “immediate” session to declare that Client C was a “critical” deliverable that required to be completed by immediately

Thursday: The original top leader would show disappointment that Project A had not been completed sufficiently and require to know why employees had not been “working on” it properly

By week’s end: Every three initiatives would be incomplete, various deliverables would be not met, and employees would be held responsible for “poor time planning abilities”

Such scenario was occurring continuously after week, month after month. Zero level of “priority planning” training was able to help workers manage this organizational insanity.

The core issue wasn’t that staff didn’t learn how to manage tasks – it was that the organization as a whole was completely unable of creating stable strategic focus for more than 24 hours at a time.

The team helped management to abandon their concentration on “personal priority management” training and rather create what I call “Strategic Direction Clarity.”

Instead of attempting to show workers to manage within a constantly changing environment, we focused on establishing actual company direction:

Established a unified executive leadership group with specific responsibility for establishing and maintaining organizational focus

Created a formal priority review procedure that took place regularly rather than whenever someone felt like it

Established clear criteria for when initiatives could be adjusted and what level of authorization was necessary for such changes

Implemented required coordination systems to guarantee that all focus adjustments were announced clearly and uniformly across each departments

Created protection periods where no project changes were acceptable without emergency justification

The transformation was instant and substantial:

Staff frustration rates decreased substantially as people finally understood what they were expected to be concentrating on

Efficiency increased by more than half within 45 days as workers could actually concentrate on finishing projects rather than repeatedly switching between conflicting requests

Work completion times got better significantly as teams could coordinate and deliver work without daily disruptions and re-prioritization

Customer satisfaction got better dramatically as work were consistently completed on time and to standards

This point: instead of you train employees to prioritize, ensure your company actually possesses stable strategic focus that are suitable for working toward.

Let me share another approach that time organization training proves useless in chaotic workplaces: by believing that workers have genuine authority over their time and responsibilities.

The team consulted with a government organization where employees were constantly receiving blamed for “poor priority management” and required to “time management” training workshops.

The truth was that these workers had essentially zero authority over their work activities. This is what their normal day looked like:

About the majority of their schedule was taken up by compulsory sessions that they couldn’t decline, irrespective of whether these sessions were necessary to their real work

Another significant portion of their workday was dedicated to filling out required forms and paperwork requirements that contributed no usefulness to their primary responsibilities or to the people they were supposed to assist

The final one-fifth of their time was meant to be dedicated for their real work – the tasks they were paid to do and that really made a difference to the public

However even this limited fraction of time was regularly interrupted by “urgent” demands, last-minute conferences, and bureaucratic requirements that couldn’t be rescheduled

Given these circumstances, zero level of “task organization” training was able to enable these workers turn more productive. Their challenge wasn’t their individual time planning abilities – it was an systemic framework that made meaningful activity virtually unattainable.

The team helped them establish organizational reforms to resolve the real impediments to efficiency:

Eliminated unnecessary meetings and implemented specific criteria for when gatherings were really necessary

Streamlined bureaucratic tasks and got rid of unnecessary reporting procedures

Implemented reserved time for actual professional responsibilities that would not be disrupted by meetings

Created defined procedures for deciding what represented a genuine “immediate priority” versus routine demands that could wait for scheduled slots

Established task distribution processes to guarantee that work was allocated appropriately and that zero individual was carrying excessive load with impossible demands

Employee efficiency rose significantly, work happiness improved substantially, and this organization genuinely commenced offering better services to the public they were supposed to help.

The key insight: organizations cannot fix efficiency challenges by teaching individuals to operate more effectively productively within chaotic structures. Organizations must fix the structures before anything else.

Currently let’s discuss possibly the greatest absurd component of priority management training in poorly-run workplaces: the belief that staff can mysteriously organize tasks when the company itself changes its focus numerous times per week.

The team consulted with a technology business where the executive leadership was notorious for going through “innovative” insights multiple times per week and requiring the entire company to immediately redirect to implement each new idea.

Staff would come at their jobs on Monday with a defined knowledge of their priorities for the day, only to learn that the management had determined overnight that all priorities they had been working on was suddenly not relevant and that they must to right away commence working on a project completely different.

Such cycle would happen several times per week. Initiatives that had been announced as “critical” would be abandoned mid-stream, teams would be repeatedly moved to different work, and significant portions of effort and work would be lost on projects that were not completed.

Their company had poured heavily in “agile project planning” training and advanced project management software to enable staff “respond efficiently” to evolving requirements.

However no amount of education or systems could address the fundamental problem: organizations can’t efficiently manage continuously changing directions. Perpetual change is the enemy of good prioritization.

I worked with them establish what I call “Disciplined Objective Management”:

Created scheduled planning planning cycles where significant direction adjustments could be discussed and adopted

Developed firm standards for what qualified as a genuine reason for modifying set priorities outside the scheduled review cycles

Implemented a “objective protection” period where zero modifications to established objectives were acceptable without emergency justification

Implemented specific communication procedures for when direction adjustments were genuinely necessary, with full impact analyses of what initiatives would be interrupted

Mandated formal sign-off from senior leaders before any major priority modifications could be implemented

Their improvement was outstanding. After 90 days, real work success rates rose by more than three times. Staff burnout instances decreased considerably as staff could at last focus on completing tasks rather than constantly initiating new ones.

Creativity remarkably got better because groups had sufficient time to fully develop and refine their concepts rather than continuously moving to new projects before any project could be properly completed.

That reality: successful prioritization demands objectives that remain consistent long enough for teams to really work on them and accomplish significant progress.

This is what I’ve concluded after extensive time in this industry: task planning training is only effective in workplaces that currently have their organizational priorities together.

If your company has clear business objectives, reasonable expectations, functional leadership, and systems that enable rather than prevent productive activity, then priority organization training can be beneficial.

But if your workplace is defined by perpetual chaos, unclear directions, poor planning, excessive workloads, and crisis-driven leadership styles, then priority management training is worse than useless – it’s actively destructive because it blames individual performance for leadership failures.

Stop wasting time on priority planning training until you’ve resolved your leadership direction first.

Focus on creating companies with consistent strategic direction, functional leadership, and structures that actually enable productive work.

Company employees would manage tasks perfectly fine once you provide them priorities deserving of focusing on and an organization that really facilitates them in completing their jobs. overwhelmed with impossible workloads

Worker productivity improved dramatically, work satisfaction increased notably, and this agency finally commenced delivering improved services to the public they were supposed to support.

That key point: you won’t be able to solve time management challenges by showing employees to operate more effectively successfully within broken systems. Companies need to fix the systems first.

Currently let’s address possibly the most absurd aspect of priority management training in chaotic companies: the assumption that staff can somehow manage responsibilities when the management at leadership level changes its priorities several times per week.

I worked with a IT company where the CEO was famous for having “innovative” insights several times per week and expecting the complete organization to right away shift to accommodate each new idea.

Staff would come at their jobs on Monday with a clear knowledge of their priorities for the week, only to find that the CEO had concluded overnight that all priorities they had been concentrating on was suddenly not relevant and that they needed to instantly commence working on something completely unrelated.

That pattern would repeat several times per month. Work that had been declared as “essential” would be abandoned halfway through, groups would be repeatedly redirected to alternative projects, and massive amounts of time and work would be wasted on work that were never completed.

Their company had spent extensively in “adaptive task organization” training and advanced priority management tools to enable staff “adapt rapidly” to shifting priorities.

However absolutely no level of education or software could overcome the basic challenge: organizations can’t successfully manage perpetually evolving objectives. Perpetual change is the antithesis of successful planning.

I assisted them implement what I call “Disciplined Priority Management”:

Created quarterly strategic review cycles where important priority adjustments could be considered and implemented

Established firm criteria for what qualified as a legitimate basis for adjusting set directions apart from the regular review sessions

Implemented a “priority stability” time where zero changes to current objectives were allowed without emergency justification

Established defined communication systems for when objective changes were really required, featuring complete consequence analyses of what initiatives would be delayed

Required written sign-off from several decision-makers before all substantial strategy shifts could be implemented

This change was remarkable. Within 90 days, measurable work completion percentages rose by more than 300%. Worker stress rates fell substantially as people could actually focus on completing projects rather than constantly initiating new ones.

Product development remarkably improved because groups had sufficient time to fully explore and evaluate their solutions rather than repeatedly moving to new projects before anything could be fully developed.

This reality: successful organization needs priorities that keep unchanged long enough for employees to actually focus on them and complete significant outcomes.

Let me share what I’ve learned after years in this industry: priority management training is exclusively effective in organizations that already have their strategic systems together.

When your organization has clear business priorities, achievable expectations, functional management, and systems that support rather than prevent effective activity, then task planning training can be beneficial.

But if your company is marked by continuous dysfunction, conflicting directions, poor organization, excessive demands, and emergency leadership cultures, then time organization training is worse than useless – it’s actively destructive because it holds responsible employee choices for organizational dysfunction.

Quit squandering resources on task planning training until you’ve fixed your organizational priorities initially.

Start building organizations with consistent organizational focus, functional decision-making, and processes that genuinely support productive activity.

Company employees would prioritize just effectively once you offer them something deserving of prioritizing and an organization that really supports them in accomplishing their jobs.

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