Procrastination doesn’t always look like doing nothing. Sometimes it looks like answering emails instead of calling prospects or tweaking a presentation instead of sending it. If you lead a team, you may try to get in front of procrastination by checking in more often or setting deadlines earlier than necessary.
This feels like leadership, but according to author and organizational psychologist David Burkus, to fix a procrastination problem, you first need to understand the root of procrastination. It’s often not a motivation problem, he says, but a structural problem. In this issue of PromoPro Daily, we share his tips for breaking the procrastination cycle.
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Begin with a conversation. Don’t just assume you know why your team is stalling. If you guess wrong and start trying to “fix” things, you’ll make things worse. Burkus says it’s important to ensure your team members know they can speak up and ask for help. Otherwise, they may keep tripping over the same snags and missing the same deadlines.
Manage the person — not just the project. Burkus points out that different people need different things to do their best work. Some appreciate regular check-ins, while others prefer more quiet time so they can think. To help your team beat procrastination, make sure you’re giving them what they need.
Look at yourself. Sometimes your team is slow because you’re slow, Burkus says. If they know a project will go unanswered for a week, they’re not going to rush to finish it. He suggests doing an honest audit of your habits, from your response time to the speed of your feedback.
Break deadlines into milestones. We’re naturally wired to underestimate how long things will take. So, it’s sometimes not procrastination but just a faulty assumption. Burkus says milestones help add accountability. It’s not about dictating how people spend every hour but giving them moments of visibility so they see what they’ve accomplished.
Make timeliness a team value. If your team chronically misses deadlines, Burkus says it may be because missing deadlines is quietly acceptable in your culture. It may be that procrastination is assumed. Things always slip a little, and nothing bad ever happens. It’s important to clarify what “on time” actually means, whether that’s submitted, approved or fully complete.
Everyone procrastinates from time to time. The key is that you recognize what’s happening and make sure you don’t stay stuck for long. Identify what’s holding you or your team members back, and then take the first step, whether it’s making that call or resuming that task.
Compiled by Audrey Sellers
Source: David Burkus is an organizational psychologist, author and keynote speaker whose work focuses on leadership, teamwork and collaboration.
