End Teaching People to “Organize” When Your Company Has Absolutely No Clue What Actually Is Important: The Reason Time Management Training Is Useless in Chaotic Companies
I’ll ready to demolish one of the most popular myths in corporate training: the idea that showing workers improved “prioritization” techniques will fix time management challenges in organizations that have zero clear priorities themselves.
After extensive experience of consulting with companies on productivity problems, I can tell you that time organization training in a dysfunctional company is like showing someone to sort their possessions while their house is actively on fire around them.
Here’s the core problem: the majority of organizations dealing with from time management problems do not have time management challenges – they have leadership failures.
Traditional priority organization training presupposes that companies have consistent, stable objectives that staff can be taught to recognize and concentrate toward. That assumption is entirely separated from actual workplace conditions in nearly all contemporary companies.
I worked with a large communications company where staff were continuously complaining about being “failing to manage their responsibilities effectively.” Executives had invested hundreds of thousands on task planning training for every employees.
This training included all the usual approaches: Eisenhower grids, ABC categorization approaches, schedule blocking techniques, and complex work organization systems.
Yet efficiency kept to decline, employee frustration instances got higher, and project delivery times got more unreliable, not improved.
Once I analyzed what was genuinely going on, I learned the real issue: the organization itself had zero consistent priorities.
Here’s what the daily experience looked like for employees:
Monday: Executive management would communicate that Initiative A was the “most critical priority” and all staff should to focus on it as soon as possible
Tuesday: A different top leader would announce an “immediate” email declaring that Initiative B was really the “highest critical” focus
Wednesday: A third team head would organize an “urgent” meeting to communicate that Initiative C was a “essential” deliverable that required to be completed by end of week
Thursday: The original top leader would express anger that Initiative A hadn’t advanced enough and insist to know why staff had not been “prioritizing” it as instructed
End of week: Each three initiatives would be delayed, multiple deadlines would be missed, and staff would be criticized for “poor time organization skills”
Such pattern was happening week after week, month after month. Absolutely no amount of “priority planning” training was able to help employees navigate this systemic dysfunction.
This basic problem wasn’t that staff didn’t know how to prioritize – it was that the organization itself was completely incapable of establishing consistent strategic focus for more than 48 hours at a time.
We convinced leadership to eliminate their focus on “personal time organization” training and rather implement what I call “Strategic Direction Systems.”
Rather than working to show employees to prioritize within a constantly changing environment, we focused on building real company priorities:
Implemented a central executive management group with clear power for establishing and enforcing strategic direction
Implemented a structured initiative assessment procedure that occurred monthly rather than daily
Established clear guidelines for when priorities could be changed and what degree of authorization was required for such adjustments
Implemented required communication procedures to make certain that all focus changes were communicated systematically and consistently across every levels
Created protection phases where absolutely no focus modifications were acceptable without exceptional justification
This transformation was remarkable and outstanding:
Staff stress instances decreased dramatically as people at last understood what they were expected to be concentrating on
Efficiency rose by more than 50% within six weeks as staff could really work on completing tasks rather than continuously switching between multiple demands
Client delivery times improved substantially as departments could organize and execute tasks without constant disruptions and re-prioritization
External relationships improved substantially as work were genuinely completed as promised and to requirements
That lesson: before you show employees to organize, guarantee your leadership really maintains consistent priorities that are worth prioritizing.
Let me share a different way that task planning training proves useless in chaotic organizations: by presupposing that workers have real control over their time and priorities.
I consulted with a government department where employees were continuously receiving reprimanded for “ineffective task planning” and mandated to “time management” training courses.
The actual situation was that these employees had almost absolutely no authority over their daily schedules. Let me describe what their average schedule looked like:
Approximately 60% of their time was occupied by required conferences that they were not allowed to decline, no matter of whether these meetings were relevant to their real job
An additional 20% of their time was allocated to filling out required documentation and administrative tasks that added no value to their primary responsibilities or to the citizens they were intended to help
This final one-fifth of their workday was supposed to be used for their core responsibilities – the work they were employed to do and that really mattered to the agency
Additionally even this small portion of availability was continuously interrupted by “emergency” requirements, unexpected calls, and bureaucratic demands that had no option to be rescheduled
Given these circumstances, no degree of “priority planning” training was able to enable these staff become more efficient. The problem wasn’t their employee task management techniques – it was an systemic system that made meaningful activity essentially unachievable.
We helped them establish structural improvements to resolve the actual obstacles to efficiency:
Eliminated redundant sessions and established specific standards for when conferences were really justified
Simplified administrative requirements and got rid of unnecessary reporting processes
Created dedicated blocks for real work activities that were not allowed to be interrupted by non-essential demands
Established defined protocols for deciding what constituted a legitimate “emergency” versus standard requests that could wait for appropriate times
Implemented task distribution systems to guarantee that work was allocated fairly and that no employee was overburdened with impossible workloads
Staff effectiveness improved significantly, work fulfillment got better notably, and this organization genuinely commenced delivering better services to the public they were intended to support.
The key point: organizations cannot address productivity challenges by training individuals to operate more successfully within dysfunctional structures. Organizations need to repair the systems initially.
Now let’s address possibly the greatest laughable element of time management training in dysfunctional organizations: the belief that staff can mysteriously organize work when the organization as a whole shifts its priorities numerous times per month.
The team consulted with a IT company where the founder was notorious for experiencing “innovative” revelations numerous times per period and demanding the whole organization to immediately shift to pursue each new direction.
Employees would show up at their jobs on any given day with a specific understanding of their objectives for the week, only to find that the management had decided over the weekend that all work they had been focusing on was not a priority and that they needed to immediately commence focusing on an initiative entirely unrelated.
Such cycle would occur numerous times per month. Initiatives that had been announced as “critical” would be forgotten before completion, teams would be repeatedly redirected to new work, and enormous portions of time and energy would be squandered on projects that were never completed.
Their company had poured heavily in “flexible project management” training and advanced project management software to enable employees “respond rapidly” to shifting priorities.
However absolutely no amount of training or software could address the fundamental challenge: you cannot effectively manage continuously shifting objectives. Perpetual shifting is the antithesis of good prioritization.
We worked with them establish what I call “Disciplined Direction Stability”:
Created quarterly priority assessment periods where major direction modifications could be considered and implemented
Created strict criteria for what constituted a valid justification for modifying established priorities beyond the planned assessment periods
Established a “direction protection” phase where no modifications to set objectives were permitted without emergency approval
Established clear coordination systems for when objective adjustments were genuinely essential, including thorough cost assessments of what projects would be abandoned
Required written sign-off from senior decision-makers before all significant direction shifts could be enacted
Their improvement was dramatic. In 90 days, real initiative completion percentages increased by over 300%. Employee stress rates decreased considerably as employees could actually concentrate on completing projects rather than repeatedly starting new ones.
Innovation remarkably increased because teams had adequate time to thoroughly explore and evaluate their solutions rather than repeatedly moving to new initiatives before any work could be properly finished.
This point: effective planning requires objectives that keep unchanged long enough for teams to really focus on them and complete substantial results.
Let me share what I’ve concluded after years in this field: time organization training is merely valuable in organizations that already have their strategic priorities together.
When your organization has consistent organizational priorities, reasonable expectations, effective decision-making, and systems that enable rather than obstruct efficient performance, then task organization training can be beneficial.
But if your organization is marked by constant crisis management, unclear directions, incompetent planning, unrealistic expectations, and reactive leadership approaches, then task planning training is more counterproductive than ineffective – it’s directly destructive because it faults individual choices for systemic incompetence.
Quit throwing away resources on task planning training until you’ve fixed your leadership priorities initially.
Focus on establishing workplaces with stable strategic priorities, effective management, and structures that really facilitate productive activity.
The staff will prioritize perfectly well once you offer them priorities deserving of working toward and an environment that genuinely facilitates them in completing their responsibilities. overwhelmed with impossible workloads
Worker effectiveness increased significantly, professional happiness improved considerably, and the department genuinely started providing improved outcomes to the citizens they were intended to serve.
This crucial insight: companies can’t fix time management challenges by teaching people to work better productively within dysfunctional organizations. You have to improve the systems before anything else.
Now let’s discuss possibly the most absurd aspect of task management training in dysfunctional companies: the belief that employees can mysteriously manage tasks when the management at leadership level modifies its direction numerous times per week.
We consulted with a technology startup where the CEO was well-known for having “innovative” ideas numerous times per day and demanding the entire organization to right away redirect to accommodate each new idea.
Workers would arrive at their jobs on regularly with a specific understanding of their tasks for the day, only to learn that the management had determined suddenly that everything they had been focusing on was suddenly not a priority and that they needed to immediately begin focusing on a project entirely different.
Such cycle would occur multiple times per period. Projects that had been stated as “essential” would be dropped mid-stream, teams would be repeatedly re-assigned to new projects, and massive portions of time and energy would be wasted on work that were ultimately not finished.
This organization had poured significantly in “adaptive task organization” training and sophisticated task management software to help staff “adjust efficiently” to evolving requirements.
But absolutely no degree of education or software could overcome the core issue: organizations won’t be able to successfully organize constantly shifting priorities. Continuous modification is the enemy of effective organization.
I helped them create what I call “Focused Direction Management”:
Established quarterly strategic review periods where important priority modifications could be discussed and approved
Established firm requirements for what constituted a legitimate reason for changing agreed-upon directions beyond the scheduled planning cycles
Implemented a “priority consistency” phase where zero changes to established priorities were permitted without emergency justification
Implemented specific notification systems for when objective adjustments were genuinely required, featuring complete cost evaluations of what work would be abandoned
Mandated formal sign-off from multiple decision-makers before each substantial direction modifications could be enacted
The change was remarkable. After a quarter, actual project completion rates increased by nearly three times. Staff frustration instances fell considerably as staff could actually concentrate on completing work rather than constantly initiating new ones.
Creativity actually improved because teams had adequate resources to completely develop and test their ideas rather than repeatedly changing to new initiatives before any work could be properly completed.
This lesson: effective organization demands priorities that stay unchanged long enough for people to genuinely focus on them and complete substantial progress.
Here’s what I’ve learned after decades in this field: time planning training is exclusively valuable in companies that already have their leadership act working properly.
If your organization has clear business direction, realistic workloads, functional management, and structures that support rather than obstruct effective work, then task organization training can be helpful.
Yet if your workplace is characterized by perpetual crisis management, unclear directions, incompetent organization, excessive workloads, and crisis-driven management approaches, then priority management training is worse than pointless – it’s directly harmful because it blames personal behavior for leadership dysfunction.
End throwing away money on task planning training until you’ve addressed your leadership priorities before anything else.
Start building workplaces with stable business focus, functional management, and processes that really support meaningful accomplishment.
Your workers will prioritize perfectly effectively once you provide them something worth focusing on and an workplace that actually supports them in doing their responsibilities.
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