The Sunday Mail
Changing Perspectives
Rutendo Gwatidzo
WORK is part of life. Actually, in one way or the other, we all work to survive.
However, whenever we talk of work, we cannot avoid talking about deadlines because work should be completed within a certain period.
The difference between different tasks is the deadline.
Some deadlines can be more realistic or more challenging than others.
However, the bottom line is every task has a deadline.
Unfortunately, some people, especially employees, have a negative attitude towards deadlines.
But we need to realise that it takes discipline, planning and order for businesses to operate.
No matter how solid plans and strategies might be, without the right culture, they are likely to fail.
And, yes, if not managed well, culture can even eat change for lunch and innovation for dinner.
This simply means a wrong culture can destroy everything, no matter the great potential a project may have.
If the team running with a project constantly fails to meet deadlines, the work may be unsuccessful.
In human resources, experience shows that a significant number of people who complain that they do not have enough time for a given task actually have more time to do unnecessary things.
In fact, many of them focus on things that do not matter.
Unfortunately, the demands of life and the demands of time are never ending. One of the reasons some people get promoted over others is that they learnt to manage time well.
How to manage the demands of time
Firstly, you need to have the right culture by having a “can-do” attitude.
Secondly, you need to categorise your tasks into four groups.
The first group should prioritise important and urgent tasks.
The second group should have important tasks, though not urgent.
The third group should comprise urgent but not important tasks.
Lastly, the fourth category is that of tasks that are neither important nor urgent.
Always create more time for what is important.Failure to meet deadlines for important tasks can have serious negative consequences.
For example, you may need to deliver goods to a customer in the same hour you want to watch soccer.
If you miss the client, you lose sales that may significantly affect your business.
However, if you miss the game, you will always get the results later.
Organisational status
Many organisations are full of teams that are not organised and do things haphazardly, and this culture needs to be nipped in the bud.
There are teams that tend to tackle many things at once without completing tasks within deadlines.
A good number of them complain a lot about how their days are so busy yet they are not productive.
This challenge is mainly caused by the failure to categorise tasks.
Most of these teams spend time on things that fall in categories three and four — things that are not important.
And many teams operate without a to-do list.
Ordinarily, one should know at least a day in advance about tasks that need to be done the next day.
One of the reasons most employees find time to be on social media during working hours is lack of direction and organisation, because, when someone has a to-do list, according to priorities, they will know better to complete work assignments first.
Sometimes, it is better to be a bit slow but manage to complete the task, rather than rush to complete a task and fail completely.
Many teams typically pursue many things at once and then fail to complete anything.
Others methodically complete their tasks by taking them on one by one.
Sadly, many managers tend to appraise those who do many things at once without analysing their failure to meet deadlines.
Sometimes, it is better to have 10 people doing 10 assignments and completing them.
Though they may earn less due to their number, they will find fulfilment in doing successful projects, which eventually pay off.
Conversely, having less people doing many things that they fail to complete results in frustrations.
General facts
Rushing does not replace planning.
Rushing may seem attractive but, in most cases, it ends up costly.
One author once said: “When being rushed is the problem, rushing is never the solution.”
There is a difference between doing things fast and rushing.
Be challenged, be encouraged and be inspired to change the way you do things, from haphazardly to orderly.
Rutendo Gwatidzo is the managing consultant at The HUB HR Consultancy, a culture and change management organisation. She is a multi-award-winning leader as a consultant, speaker and mentor. She is also an author of two books, “Born to Fight” and “Breaking the Silence”. Contact detail — 0714575805/ [email protected] / Rutendo Gwatidzo official fb public page.
