Meeting deadlines or delivering work before the deadline approaches is a direct reflection of the team productivity. Team productivity remains one of the most crucial aspects of any workplace, whether it is an advertising agency, a software house or even a government organization. There are a number of factors, which tell if your employees are as productive as they should be or not. While sometimes, the employees are the blamed for showing non-serious attitude towards work, other times – you might have to dig deeper to know the reason.
Whether the problem lies at the management end or the employees end is an important starting point. Does your team constantly keep on missing their deadlines and lag behind the workload by days and weeks? If the answer is yes, it is time to take a serious look on why this is happening so that you can find an efficient and effective solution for this.
If the deadlines are not met because one or two employees fail to deliver their work on time, which delays the overall delivery of project – you can clearly identify the bad apples in your team. But if the entire team is behind the deadline and this is not stand-alone occurrence, it is time to identify the root causes behind it.
Here, we have listed three of the most common reasons that result in missing deadlines by employees:
Unclear Deadlines
Problem: If you keep the deadlines vague and do not properly inform the team members about the when the project is due, they are bound to miss it. Sometimes, managers tend to push the team to work hard without telling them the deadline – which results in confusion among employees.
Solution: To fix this problem, the easiest way is to call for a team meeting every time there is a new project. The delivery date of the project should be communicated to the entire team. Digital products such as Google Calendar, shared by the entire team can also help in reminding employees about the deadline.
No Consequences
Problem: When a team first misses a deadline, they are afraid about upsetting the boss as it can result in serious repercussions. If the manager does not react on missing deadline or give an ultimatum to the team, they will take it easy and will miss the deadline next time again.
Solution: As a manager, you should realize the importance of accountability. When employees are held accountable, they understand that missing a deadline or not delivering work will result in undesired consequences. Tell all the team members loud and clear about the actions that will be taken by the management if a deadline is missed.
Breaking down deadline
Problem: One of the reasons why a team might be unable to meet the deadline is because it has not been broken down into long-term and short-term goals. With extensive projects, it becomes important to have a clear roadmap that tells the employees about what they have to deliver every day, in a week and in a month.
Solution: Your team needs to know what do you expect them to deliver on a daily basis and long-term basis. Set up monthly and weekly deadlines so that team members get in a habit of delivering work in time. It will also help the team in working proactively, and have no time to procrastinate.