Is Procrastination Killing Your Goals?

Your team is providing goal updates at your Weekly Team Meeting, and it's not going well. 

Across the board, you're making less progress than you'd expect. 

The one question in your mind "What is my team doing all week long?"

If you were to ask them, each team member can rattle off a menagerie of meetings, tasks, fires to put out, etc, but not the goal-oriented work you actually need done? 

What gives? 

Bad news: you might have a team of procrastinators...

Good news: it's solvable. Keep reading. 

Why Your Team Procrastinates & What To Do About It

#1 :: Your Team is Afraid to Fail

Previous negative experiences with failure, whether it was on your team or a previous team, may be impacting your team's ability to get started.  

Do This Instead

1. Celebrate taking action and learning from the results, even if it means a failure or two along the way.
2. Build rituals around reviewing results of action, and deciding on the next step. 

#2 :: Your Team Doesn't Know Where to Start

The larger an initiative grows in scope, the harder it can be to start as your team simply doesn't know what to do first. In addition, when the initiative fields unwieldy, it becomes difficult to prioritize it on a calendar, as your team simply may feel like they don't have enough time. 

Do This Instead: 

1. Break the initiative down into manageable chunks. 
2. Start by breaking the initiative down into 1 to 5 day chunks, with a start date and end date, and a clear definition of done. 
3. As the start date for each chunk of work starts, break it down further into 1 to 4 hour tasks, again with a clear definition of done. 

#3 :: Your Team Lacks Motivation

If your team isn't intrinsically motivated, they may simply lack the gumption to get started and make your goals happen. 

Do This Instead: 

1. Build accountability structures around action and deadlines, such as calendar accountability.
2. Accountability and deadlines drive the first step, which often builds momentum and kicks intrinsic motivation into action. 

#4 :: Your Team is Overwhelmed by Other Priorities

If your team already feels maxed out on their schedule, there are unlikely to find the time to make any additional initiatives happen. 

Do This Instead: 

1. Install a productivity framework like Time Boss that right-sizes your team's workload, aligns their calendar to top priorities, builds in realistic buffer, and values rest and recovery. 

All These Solutions are Part of a Productivity Framework

Procrastination is a sign that your team's productivity framework may need an upgrade. You might consider Time Boss, a productivity framework built to right-sizes your team's workload, aligns their calendar to top priorities, builds in realistic buffer, and values rest and recovery. . 

Ready to take control of your time to get better results? Grab a 30-minute Intro Session on Andrew's calendar here and let's connect about your specific challenge.