Business Management

Imagine if your local newspaper didn’t show up one morning because those operating the press at the paper just didn’t make their deadlines? How would you feel? What would happen to those employees the next day? Imagine if all of the local gas stations had bags over the nozzles because the deliver trucks were behind on their deadline and the pumps were empty? How would you feel?
We take for granted that some suppliers we count on always make their deadlines, so why are we not as expectant for our business deadlines to be met?
Routinely when working with executives reviewing strategic planning objectives, goals and targets, I hear “We’ve not got to that yet.” Over and over. Excuses often follow, and the justifications invariably are tossed around.
What happened to commitment? What happened to a deadline being a deadline? If leaders are quick to dismiss deadlines and not consider them a true end point, how will anyone else in the organization take targets seriously?
Deadlines are a managerial tool that when enforced requires people to take action or deal with the consequences. One of the reasons businesses get their butts kicked is because the front office has become slack in their drive for making things happen in a timely manner.
This year for the first time in my life my tax information didn’t get in on time. My accountant called to tell me he was filing for an extension, followed by lame excuses. Did he check with me first to see how I felt about this? No. Will he be my accountant after this? Not on your life. Slack attitudes toward deadlines means slack attitudes are acceptable in everything else. I have no room for those people on my team.
Deadlines are:
• A managerial tool to establish a date for something to be completed – no excuses.• A target time frame to keep everyone focused on an accomplishment.• An opportunity to separate the meaningful commitments from the hollow promises.• A way to keep people challenged and moving forward.• A method of keeping things from dragging on endlessly.• A way to establish yourself as a leader who plays to win.
How do you know your deadline is realistic?
Deadlines can often be set arbitrarily with a randomly selected date or with a focus of “I have to have it now” because an emergency is driving the deadline. (Said emergency is often caused by something else left undone or not on time.) Deadlines should be set with an expectation of being met. Based either on past history, or a clear understanding of exactly what is required to be accomplished, deadlines should have some input from those expected to execute it.
A marketing firm has a distinctive competence of magical deadlines. They can brainstorm with a company all day long and by morning have full prototype printed and ready for review by breakfast the next day. How do they do this? The team responsible for making this happen understands their hours are more night shift than day shift. They also understand that by meeting such aggressive deadlines they get to work with a company that creates buzz and can charge a premium and pay premium. It’s the understanding of what can be done.
Sometimes you have to make midcourse adjustments to your deadline. The key with such adjustments is the “why” the adjustment is being made? Did you set an unrealistic deadline? Was there a factor you forgot to include? Or, did something happen along the way to shift the target you were going after or the scope of what is being done by that deadline? Midcourse corrections because of oversights and lack of being realistic to begin with could erode the respect people have for your deadlines.
If you are making changes because of now important information coming to light, or changing the scope of the project and want to set a more realistic deadline based on the different tasks being added, then you are making savvy decisions your team will respect.
Deadlines are deadlines
Once deadlines are left to pass without any consequences, the management team soon realizes deadlines are merely suggestions and can be easily talked around. Next thing you know, opportunity is lost, laziness sets in and getting steamrolled by the competition is no longer feared – it is actually being invited – without even realizing the offer of the invitation; leaving executives to wonder, “How did that happen?”
Look at the deadlines you have on current projects, corrections of previous errors, and strategic initiatives and ask yourself – how seriously are these deadlines being taken? Now look in the mirror and ask the hard question: Why am I letting people ignore my deadlines?
Good leaders understand how to effectively set aggressive deadlines that have reach yet are obtainable. They also understand deadlines get things done.