False urgency kills team culture
Teams crash and burn when leaders don’t prioritize priorities.
Leaders who can’t distinguish and communicate what’s important to the organization allow a storm of false urgency to blow through, destroying a team’s morale and impeding progress.
Several signs that false urgency has crept into your organization:
Have team members mention working nights and weekends to get “real work” done?
Do you pull them into every meeting imaginable?
When discussing ideas or projects to pursue, do you give tight deadlines or none at all?
Is “good enough is good enough” your philosophy to push your team from one project to the next, but you still complain when they don’t produce stellar results?
Are you contacting employees during the evening, on their days off or when they’re out sick?
It’s natural for a leader to want their team to move swiftly on essential matters. But if you’re not careful, you risk your team breaking down under the weight of competing demands that will leave them unproductive, overwhelmed and unmotivated.
False Urgency Harms Work Culture
Leaders who push their teams to do all the things all the time are also pushing them on the verge of collapse. They must recognize the consequences of creating a firestorm of urgency among employees:
Heightens anxiety and depression.
Permeates a constant state of overwhelm and panic that breaks down positive collaboration.
The sacrificing of rest and recharge time impacts employees’ well-being.
Deep work becomes challenging under constant pressure.
Fight False Urgency
It’s easy for leaders – significantly when new in their roles – to jump in head first to prove their value by scoring as many quick wins as possible. But doing so comes at a high cost. Once the fire has cooled, the team – their morale, motivation and culture – has become the collateral damage. If you’re the culprit of creating false urgency in your organization, it’s time to recognize and correct it before your team breaks down.
Leaders who prioritize ruthlessly in the following ways can produce fantastic results while preserving the team’s health.
“If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.”
Be clear on the organization’s priorities and who owns what. If everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.
Get out of the weeds and empower teams to drive priorities forward.
Regulate external requests and filter true urgencies. Allow your team to execute a few things very well instead of doing all the things poorly.
Create processes for prioritizing work and communication protocols.
At the helm of high-functioning teams are leaders who can articulate vision, set priorities, and apply pressure to achieve goals and consistently get the best from them.