Some days, you just wake up and say, “Man, I cannot do this today.” You drag yourself into the office or over to your computer, open up your email, and do everything but work. You wonder what that one cousin who you haven’t talked to in years is up to, so you spend an hour on Facebook. You scroll past a photo and notice somebody has that exact couch you’ve been wanting. “I wonder where they got it?” There’s another hour spent endlessly searching through various online furniture retailers. And the cycle just goes on, and on, and on ad infinitum.
Now, think about if you’re the head of your organization, and you and all your employees are all doing this exact same thing. How is any work going to actually get done? It’s a great question, and it’s one that we here at Payday HCM have seen many companies battle. It can be very difficult to get past that initial hump of starting that task you’ve been putting off. But as we’ve seen with the many companies we’ve helped, once you do get over that hump, it’s off to the races.
In this article, we’ll go over four ways that you can help tackle the behemoth that is procrastination. We’ll talk about ways that you can help alleviate procrastination not only for yourself but for your entire organization. By the end, you might be ready to stop putting off that presentation or quarterly report you should’ve done hours ago.
The four steps covered in this article are:
- Find The Meaning In Your Task
- Avoid Villainizing Your Procrastinating Self
- Break Up A Task Into Smaller Parts
- Find Motivation From Those Around You
#1: Find the Meaning In Your Task
It’s hard to do something when you don’t understand why you’re doing it. Taking the time to understand the meaning behind what you’re doing can be a great way to encourage yourself to do it.
Why Should I Even Care?
This is a question that far too many people likely ask themselves when working on a project at work, and it’s one that many managers or supervisors would hope their employees don’t ask themselves. Ultimately, it’s an important question, and knowing the answer can be the difference between completing a task on time and having to ask for another deadline extension.
According to the Harvard Business Review, lacking personal meaning is one of seven key contributors to workplace procrastination alongside other descriptors like the task being:
- Boring
- Difficult
- Ambiguous
- Frustrating
- Not intrinsically rewarding
- Unstructured
As a manager, you shouldn’t be afraid of this question—in fact, you should be happy to answer it. Knowing why a task needs to be done and providing your employees with the motivation to do it is a crucial leadership skill. If you find yourself unable to answer this question, though, maybe you should reconsider whether this thing needs to be done in the first place.
Meaning and Company Culture
The question of why someone might be doing something could run deeper than just the task set in front of them. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, understanding how they fit into an organization’s future plans is a key driver of employee motivation. Ultimately, it’s up to the management team to help them understand that.
You most likely already have some sort of company-wide goals set. Do your employees know those goals? Do they believe in them? Do you believe in them? It can be easy to do those sorts of things because that’s what companies do, but in order to motivate those around you, you need to really believe in them. Make sure these goals truly matter to you—your employees will take notice.
#2: Avoid Villainizing Your Procrastinating Self
Self-deprecation is all too easy, and when it comes to procrastination, it can create a vicious cycle of unproductiveness.
The Pros and Cons of Perfectionism
Sometimes, perfectionism can be a great tool for your employees or your organization to outdo itself. At other times, however, it can also be a destructive tool that prevents people from getting their work done.
Doubt about whether or not something is good enough or not can lead to costly delays. For someone looking to complete something, just finish what you’re working on. For the supervisor going in to review said completed thing, be sure you’re open to providing feedback and working with the other person to ensure the thing is completed to its highest level.
A Culture of Teamwork
It’s unrealistic to expect someone to turn in a perfect final product on the first go around. If this is what you’re expecting, you may see frequent delays in projects as your employees may be too concerned with getting it right rather than just doing the thing.
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to foster a company culture that emphasizes teamwork. Leave your office door open for people to come in and ask questions, or keep your personal Zoom meeting room open for people to drop in. Don’t let tasks be left unfinished for fear that they may not be completed to your standards.
#3: Break Up A Task into Smaller Parts
You’ve probably run in to this solution a number of times when it comes to the topic of battling procrastination, but for good reason.
Start Small, Think Big
According to the University of Southern California, procrastination largely stems from an emotional response to the short-term negative feelings surrounding completing a task. These negative emotions include those discussed above—things like boredom or tasks feeling ambiguous.
One method, then, for eliminating procrastination is to inhibit that short-term response. Think of ways to make the task pleasurable in the short term. This can include things like turning it into a game (how many words can I type in the next twenty minutes?) or breaking the task up into shorter time blocks (I don’t know if I can work on it for a whole hour, but I think I can sit down and do it for the next fifteen minutes).
What Is the Long-Term Goal?
The idea of breaking up a task isn’t necessarily to avoid thinking about achieving some long-term goal but rather to prevent short-term dissatisfaction. It is still helpful overall to have a clear, outlined long-term goal that everyone is aware of.
If this long-term goal is something that matters to the person completing the task—whether that be yourself or one of your colleagues—it can help to eliminate that short-term dissatisfaction. Make that goal known for yourself and for those around you, and make sure everyone wants to achieve it.
#4: Find Motivation From Those Around You
It’s easier to be motivated when everyone else around you is. Of course, there’s always the potential for self-doubt when others seem to be motivated, and you are not.
Teamwork, Teamwork, Teamwork
No one wants to feel alone, especially when you’re at work. Isolation can increase feelings of boredom or tediousness. There’s also something more daunting about completing a task when you’re the only one in charge of doing it.
A good method for preventing procrastination is to talk to coworkers about what they’re working on. Sure, that’s also not getting your work done, but it can encourage discussion of ideas and motivate you to complete the task at hand. It can also be a component of breaking the task up into smaller bits: you talked to your coworker about what you’re doing, now the next step is to do it.
The Dangers of a Culture of Productivity
A study performed by Bishop’s University found that there is a correlation between procrastination and self-compassion. Being kind not only to yourself, but to those around you, can mean the difference between procrastination and getting the work done.
This doesn’t mean to create a company culture focused on productivity. If you’re rewarding those uber-productive employees too much, it can cause procrastination to actually grow worse. Those who require more outside assistance may begin to doubt themselves as they’re not fitting in to the culture of the organization. Acknowledge that it’s great to get the job done, but there’s also nothing wrong with taking your time.
Let’s All Get Back To Work
Procrastination is a dangerous thing. You might have even read through this entire article because you’re procrastinating doing something yourself. The worst thing about it is that it’s often a cycle: the more you procrastinate, the worse you feel, and thus you procrastinate even more. But if you follow the steps taken in this article, you’ll be able to stop that cycle and finish that thing you’ve been putting off for so long now.
Eliminating procrastination can be one element in creating a revamped company culture. Learn more about different types of benefits and how they also can help to improve your company’s culture.
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