Quit Teaching People to “Prioritize” When Your Company Has Zero Clue What Genuinely Is Important: Why Priority Organization Training Is Useless in Dysfunctional Workplaces
I’m going to demolish one of the biggest common misconceptions in corporate training: the belief that showing staff more effective “task management” skills will resolve time management problems in companies that have zero consistent priorities themselves.
After extensive experience of working with businesses on efficiency challenges, I can tell you that task planning training in a dysfunctional workplace is like showing someone to organize their items while their home is currently collapsing around them.
Let me share the basic reality: nearly all businesses suffering from efficiency crises cannot have time management issues – they have management dysfunction.
Standard priority management training assumes that companies have clear, reliable goals that workers can be taught to recognize and work with. This idea is totally separated from reality in nearly all current companies.
I consulted with a major marketing agency where staff were constantly reporting problems about being “failing to prioritize their work effectively.” Management had poured hundreds of thousands on task planning training for all workers.
This training featured all the standard approaches: priority matrices, priority classification approaches, time management methods, and detailed project tracking software.
Yet efficiency continued to drop, worker frustration instances got higher, and client delivery times became worse, not improved.
When I analyzed what was actually going on, I found the actual problem: the agency at the leadership level had no stable strategic focus.
This is what the daily situation looked like for employees:
Regularly: Top leadership would declare that Initiative A was the “top priority” and each employee must to focus on it immediately
The next day: A separate senior leader would announce an “critical” message insisting that Project B was really the “highest important” objective
Wednesday: Another different department head would call an “immediate” conference to declare that Project C was a “essential” deadline that needed to be finished by immediately
The following day: The original top executive would show frustration that Client A was not been completed enough and require to know why staff weren’t “working on” it properly
By week’s end: Every three initiatives would be incomplete, multiple deliverables would be not met, and workers would be criticized for “poor priority organization skills”
That scenario was happening constantly after week, regularly after month. Absolutely no level of “task planning” training was going to assist workers manage this management dysfunction.
The basic issue wasn’t that staff didn’t know how to prioritize – it was that the agency as a whole was totally unable of maintaining clear priorities for more than 48 hours at a time.
We convinced management to abandon their concentration on “employee time management” training and alternatively establish what I call “Strategic Priority Clarity.”
Instead of working to teach staff to manage within a dysfunctional environment, we focused on building real strategic direction:
Established a single senior management committee with specific power for determining and preserving company focus
Established a systematic project review system that took place regularly rather than constantly
Established clear guidelines for when priorities could be adjusted and what type of sign-off was necessary for such modifications
Created mandatory communication procedures to guarantee that any priority adjustments were announced systematically and uniformly across all levels
Implemented buffer periods where no priority changes were acceptable without exceptional approval
The transformation was immediate and dramatic:
Worker overwhelm rates decreased significantly as staff finally understood what they were expected to be focusing on
Productivity improved by over 50% within a month and a half as staff could really work on delivering projects rather than continuously changing between multiple priorities
Work completion times got better substantially as departments could plan and deliver tasks without continuous disruptions and modifications
Customer happiness improved substantially as work were genuinely completed as promised and to requirements
The reality: before you teach people to prioritize, guarantee your leadership really maintains consistent priorities that are suitable for prioritizing.
Here’s another method that time management training doesn’t work in chaotic organizations: by believing that workers have real control over their time and tasks.
I worked with a public sector agency where employees were continuously being blamed for “ineffective time planning” and sent to “time management” training courses.
Their reality was that these employees had essentially absolutely no authority over their work schedules. Here’s what their average workday seemed like:
About the majority of their schedule was occupied by compulsory meetings that they had no option to skip, irrespective of whether these conferences were relevant to their actual responsibilities
A further significant portion of their schedule was dedicated to filling out mandatory documentation and paperwork obligations that contributed absolutely no benefit to their real job or to the citizens they were intended to help
This final one-fifth of their time was expected to be used for their actual responsibilities – the activities they were paid to do and that really made a difference to the public
But even this tiny amount of availability was constantly invaded by “urgent” requirements, last-minute calls, and bureaucratic obligations that were not allowed to be delayed
Given these constraints, no amount of “priority management” training was going to enable these workers become more effective. Their problem wasn’t their employee time planning abilities – it was an systemic framework that made meaningful work almost unattainable.
The team assisted them create organizational reforms to resolve the actual barriers to effectiveness:
Eliminated redundant sessions and created clear requirements for when meetings were really necessary
Reduced bureaucratic requirements and got rid of redundant documentation procedures
Created reserved blocks for real work tasks that would not be interrupted by non-essential demands
Established defined procedures for determining what qualified as a real “urgent situation” versus routine requests that could wait for appropriate times
Created workload sharing processes to make certain that work was distributed appropriately and that zero individual was carrying excessive load with unsustainable demands
Worker productivity increased significantly, work happiness improved considerably, and their agency actually commenced delivering better services to the public they were supposed to support.
That crucial lesson: organizations won’t be able to address efficiency issues by teaching employees to function more successfully within broken structures. Companies have to repair the organizations first.
Now let’s discuss perhaps the biggest laughable aspect of priority management training in poorly-run workplaces: the assumption that workers can mysteriously prioritize responsibilities when the company itself modifies its direction multiple times per week.
The team consulted with a technology startup where the executive leadership was well-known for having “brilliant” ideas multiple times per period and requiring the complete team to instantly redirect to accommodate each new idea.
Workers would show up at the office on regularly with a specific understanding of their objectives for the week, only to find that the CEO had concluded suddenly that all work they had been concentrating on was no longer a priority and that they needed to instantly begin focusing on an initiative completely unrelated.
This pattern would repeat numerous times per week. Projects that had been stated as “essential” would be abandoned mid-stream, teams would be repeatedly moved to new initiatives, and enormous quantities of resources and investment would be wasted on work that were not delivered.
Their organization had invested significantly in “flexible work planning” training and sophisticated project organization systems to help employees “adjust efficiently” to evolving directions.
However absolutely no level of training or systems could solve the basic problem: you can’t successfully manage perpetually changing directions. Constant modification is the opposite of successful organization.
The team helped them implement what I call “Strategic Priority Stability”:
Created regular planning assessment cycles where significant priority changes could be evaluated and approved
Established firm requirements for what constituted a legitimate reason for modifying set objectives beyond the planned planning sessions
Implemented a “priority consistency” phase where no adjustments to established objectives were allowed without emergency justification
Implemented specific communication protocols for when direction changes were absolutely required, with thorough impact assessments of what projects would be interrupted
Established documented approval from multiple decision-makers before each major strategy shifts could be approved
Their improvement was remarkable. Within a quarter, measurable project delivery statistics improved by over three times. Employee burnout instances fell significantly as people could actually work on delivering work rather than constantly beginning new ones.
Product development remarkably increased because departments had enough time to completely explore and test their ideas rather than continuously changing to new directions before any work could be fully completed.
That lesson: effective organization needs objectives that stay stable long enough for people to really focus on them and complete substantial results.
Here’s what I’ve learned after decades in this business: time planning training is only effective in companies that already have their leadership priorities together.
Once your workplace has consistent organizational priorities, reasonable workloads, functional leadership, and processes that enable rather than prevent effective activity, then time management training can be helpful.
Yet if your company is marked by perpetual crisis management, unclear priorities, incompetent planning, excessive demands, and reactive decision-making approaches, then priority management training is worse than pointless – it’s systematically destructive because it faults individual performance for organizational failures.
End squandering resources on task management training until you’ve fixed your organizational dysfunction before anything else.
Begin creating organizations with clear strategic direction, effective management, and systems that actually enable meaningful work.
Your employees can organize just well once you offer them something deserving of working toward and an organization that really facilitates them in completing their responsibilities. overburdened with unrealistic workloads
Employee productivity increased significantly, work fulfillment got better notably, and this agency finally began providing higher quality services to the citizens they were intended to help.
The key point: organizations cannot solve efficiency issues by showing individuals to work more effectively productively within dysfunctional organizations. Organizations have to fix the organizations initially.
Currently let’s examine probably the greatest absurd aspect of priority planning training in dysfunctional workplaces: the belief that employees can somehow organize tasks when the management itself changes its focus multiple times per week.
We worked with a IT company where the CEO was well-known for having “innovative” ideas several times per day and requiring the entire team to instantly pivot to pursue each new direction.
Employees would show up at their jobs on regularly with a defined understanding of their priorities for the period, only to learn that the management had determined over the weekend that everything they had been focusing on was no longer important and that they must to instantly begin concentrating on an initiative completely new.
This behavior would happen numerous times per period. Work that had been announced as “essential” would be dropped halfway through, groups would be constantly moved to alternative projects, and significant amounts of effort and energy would be lost on work that were not completed.
The company had poured extensively in “flexible project planning” training and complex task organization software to enable staff “adjust efficiently” to changing priorities.
However absolutely no amount of education or software could solve the basic challenge: people cannot successfully manage constantly changing directions. Constant change is the enemy of good planning.
We helped them establish what I call “Disciplined Objective Management”:
Established regular strategic review sessions where significant direction adjustments could be discussed and adopted
Established firm criteria for what qualified as a valid reason for changing set priorities apart from the regular assessment periods
Implemented a “direction protection” period where absolutely no modifications to established priorities were acceptable without emergency approval
Established specific communication systems for when objective modifications were really necessary, featuring complete consequence assessments of what work would be interrupted
Established written sign-off from several decision-makers before each major strategy modifications could be implemented
This transformation was dramatic. Within three months, measurable initiative completion rates improved by over 300%. Staff frustration instances fell substantially as staff could at last concentrate on completing projects rather than continuously beginning new ones.
Innovation surprisingly increased because teams had sufficient opportunity to completely explore and refine their concepts rather than constantly changing to new initiatives before anything could be properly developed.
This reality: successful organization needs priorities that remain unchanged long enough for people to really work on them and complete substantial results.
Let me share what I’ve discovered after decades in this industry: time management training is only effective in organizations that currently have their strategic priorities together.
When your workplace has clear strategic objectives, realistic workloads, competent leadership, and systems that support rather than obstruct efficient performance, then time management training can be useful.
But if your organization is marked by perpetual chaos, unclear directions, inadequate planning, unrealistic demands, and reactive leadership cultures, then priority planning training is more counterproductive than useless – it’s actively destructive because it faults personal performance for leadership incompetence.
Quit wasting time on priority organization training until you’ve resolved your leadership dysfunction before anything else.
Start creating workplaces with clear strategic focus, effective management, and systems that genuinely facilitate meaningful activity.
The workers can organize perfectly well once you give them direction suitable for focusing on and an environment that genuinely supports them in doing their responsibilities.
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