Agile & Productivity Strategies

Deadline, have you heard about this term? You might be familiarized with it, as is the estimated timeline you or someone determines for something to be done. But have you paid close attention to it? Like, what does it really mean? And why does it have such a literal effect on us?

We could all agree that it has to be with the sense of responsibility that we accept the sense of urgency when we set a deadline and much more when this is aggressive. But is it really commitment or fear, what it triggers in ourselves.

We need to better identify what it means to us to be able to prepare and act towards the challenge and not only react.

Ideally, a timeline should be part of a structured goal. It should consider the effort required, risks, dependencies, and alternatives around the target. Sadly, it turns mostly around costs, impact, and benefits, and we can not afford to lose money, right? Used to force whatever the production line used to do, now we push ourselves, but shall we? We are not such assembled and replaceable mechanic machines.

We shall commit to doing what’s possible at work, the same we commit to care what’s safe for us at home.

While companies establish competitive marketing goals, they should also consider their human factor.

Where a staff of satisfied workers usually work at their maximum capacity in quantity and quality. An unmotivated, indifferent and dispersed team would not pull its best results even with financial incentives.

This ideology of a reciprocal commitment is relatively new in an industry increasingly focused on innovative talent and not on its productive power.

While these strategies are structured, adopted and adjusted, the pressure of mechanically posed deliveries, and the wear and tear of those who resist these aggresive journeys, give literal meaning to the term ‘deadline’.

Contrary to what is reflected in the phrase ‘does not comply with the company’s commitment levels’, it would be necessary to determine if said levels comply with this well-being factor.

In search of this work-life balance, many people change their job expectations and demand them among their conditions.

An increasing variety of job opportunities encourages staff volatility, making it easier, though more expensive, to indoctrinate new people than to change the organizational projection map. Is worth highlighting how this instability affects commitment both ways.

Weak commitment is a massive enemy for time management purposes. But it is also unrealistic deadlines.

A life or dead time line

Proposing strategic delivery dates keep us competitive at any level, organizational and personal. Risk at the business level focuses on mostly financial issues. Risk on a personal level focuses on health issues.

It is from our sense of responsibility that we overreach our efforts in order to reach the committed dates, even when this compromises our physical, mental and emotional stability.

An increment in absenteeism rates, staff turnover, and delays in deliveries due to rework or omission are evident signs of imbalance at the human and cultural level, something that will permeate the entire organization sooner or later.

Companies must seek a strategy of culture and values to strengthen their employees’ feeling of safety and belonging to keep them focused on the actual goal, with healthy levels of commitment and valuable teamwork skills.

Deadline would result from a good pace, a reference rate, and not the target to meet or survive.

How to bring that attitude back.

While strong, aggressive, and ambitious speeches encourage people to ‘fight’ to get things done. This might also become an issue when we attempt to work as a team in a collaborative environment.

How we conceptualize ideas will get a specific perception of its requested actions.

Our attitude is predisposed to this perception. The communication area would need to carefully follow up on people’s reactions and concerns as it could be aspirational or overwhelming depending on their interpretation. Miscommunication could lead to low due to uncertainty, fear, and distrust.

Having a large number of broadcast channels does not necessarily enrich communication. It often hinders it by allowing enormous ramifications of the same statement.

Communication can be many things; it can be fierce, explosive, or kind. It could use different vias. The most important thing is not how we spread the news but how we handle the responses to our message.

The fewer insecurities, ambiguities, and misunderstanding we let evolve, the quicker and longer we focus on the actual goal.

Organizations usually direct their strategies through the management lines, trusting that their teams will adopt the expected position after high-level formal communication. Sadly, informal communication spreads quicker and makes more noise.

Facing the challenge

Our main challenge as team leaders is keeping the team in a safe zone. Where empowerment, confidence, and motivation lead the journey, not a predefined role. The focus must remain straightforward, ideas should remain simple, backed up, and concerns listened to and well-directed.

The work environment depends to a large extent on the mindset of the collaborators. Although organizations have their large-scale strategies to maintain a friendly atmosphere, it is only from the attitude of the staff that some of them are more or less accepted.

We might not control strategies outside of our teams. Still, we can promote positive dynamics to build trust, reinforce motivation, and keep people committed and focused on the target and its quality, not the timeline or its (not yet happening) consequences.

We don’t need to know-it-all nor have to do it all ourselves. A more engaged team distributes these action items out of their self-conviction when the expected benefit is set to clear.

Do you want to know more about habits?/ ¿Quieres saber más sobre hábitos?

Get to know us!/ Conócenos!