Leadership: 6 Signs of Procrastination
Sign 1: Last Minute Dot Me
Ever find yourself regularly rushing at the 11th hour to deliver that report or proposal. If you do you might be best described as a last minute dot me person -someone who puts things off until they have no choice but to do something. If this sound like you, start noticing what is creating this behaviour and start to do the opposite.
Sign 2: Worry About It Later
In some cases you don’t need to deal with things immediately. On the other hand it can become really easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everything can wait. Ask yourself can it really wait or are you just playing the delay game. Think about it, if you are always delaying things, eventually you are going to have a mountain to deal with –and how productive and results orientated will you be in that situation?
Sign 3: Living In Hope
The classic situation when this arises is when it comes to dealing with a difficult staffing issue or conflict in a team. Many will simply ignore it in the hope that it will somehow disappear. Be assured it won’t and often these types of problems can be nipped in the bud quickly before they become a real issue.
Sign 4: Playing The Delay Game
The delay game is where we spend our time and energies coming up with a 101 reasons for not starting. Not enough time, not the right time, the wrong economic climate, not enough information and not enough staff are just a few of a whole host of reasons why people play the delay game.
Sign 5: Busy Doing Trivia
Keeping busy is not difficult. There is always the internet to surf, e-mails to read, texts to be sent, files to be organised, piles of paper to be sorted, the minor staff problem to deal with to name just a few. While this trivial stuff keeps us busy it does not get results.
Sign 6: Open House
Of course it is good for staff to be able to connect with you and you with them. Having an open door policy in itself is not a bad thing. On the other hand it can mean that your day is a series of interruptions. Is this you? If so, try to allocate times when you can be interrupted so that it is not when you should be working on something really critical.
Bottom Line – We all, to a greater or lesser extent procrastinate. So what are you doing when it comes to procrastinating that is stopping you achieve success as leader and what action are you going to take?
About the Author Duncan Brodie
Since 2006 I’ve worked with in excess of 8,000 accountants and professionals in workshops, seminars and one to one helping them land their next jobs and become better leaders, presenters and business partners. Before that I spent 25 years in accountancy climbing the career ladder from Payments Clerk to FD. I’m a CIMA Fellow, Certified Professional Coach and Team Coach Facilitator.