While deadlines can represent a great way of making sure that things get done, you may be using them the wrong way. The problem is that you may be making it impossible for your team to achieve them because you undermine the process.
I’m well versed in deadlines, having spent more than a decade in TV news. In this world, deadlines are absolute. If your story is supposed to be the lead of the 5 p.m. news, then it has to be the lead.
In order to meet this deadline, you would have to make lots of little adjustments. You had a plan and you were in control of its implementation.
If I had one hour to gather interviews, write a script, have that script edited, and then present the story in a live shot, then I knew that I did not want to ask the interview subjects 30 minutes of questions. That would give too much time to one phase of the project.
Other requests could come from the newsroom. But overall you had a clear mission and the freedom to get it done, with the understanding of what you could do with the available time.
In some ways, this separates the newsroom from the deadlines of the rest of the working world. Here’s why your deadlines are missed or are a source of problems:
You Keep Adding Things
Let’s say that I gave you a deadline of three days to walk 20 miles. First, you calculate how to tackle the trip. For instance, you could try to do the trip in two days of walking, ten miles each day.
You also know that this much walking will take a lot of time, so you won’t be able to do much else. That’s okay because you’re in pursuit of your deadline. At this point, you have a clear vision of what you need to do.
Everything is okay until I throw a curveball at you. I decide that your 20 mile walk also needs to see you pick up a specific item of food from a restaurant that is not on your route. Suddenly, the distance you must travel has grown and getting the trip done, by the deadline, just got more complicated.
I may make two or three other requests that affect your ability to complete the 20 mile walk. On their own, no one request is unreasonable or out of line. When added up, they pose a tremendous challenge to your ability to meet your deadline.
As a result, a task that you thought was possible has become a lot more complicated and you may not be able to complete it.
In TV News, a frantic conversation usually solves the problem. “You’re asking me to be in two places at once,” a reporter might say. This might be conveyed with some colorful words as well.
“Okay then cut the 90 second story to 25 seconds and then get on this new assignment,” you’d be told by the newsroom.
While it may not be a pretty process, both parties are committed to the deadline and will adjust, based on making it. This happens on a daily basis.
Your Big Picture
In your business, do leaders ask if additional tasks will put a deadline into question? Are employees willing to state their reservations or will they exhaust themselves trying to do the impossible? Sometimes this has to happen but often it’s not necessary.
And do both parties review what went wrong when deadlines are missed. Sometimes a workload can represent a no-win situation.
These lines of communication play a key role in your team’s productivity.
Want to spark your team’s creativity? Consider the Paper Hat Exercise.
Maybe it’s time to bring Ken Okel to your next meeting…
Read any good books lately?
