INTHEBLACK February 2023 - Magazine - Page 55
“There are benefits to everything we humans do –
that’s why we have evolved to still be doing them!
Procrastination does slow us down for some tasks, which
gives us more time to think over some of the things we
need to do. It makes us spend time on problem solving.”
DR MARNY LISHMAN, PSYCHOLOGIST
more common in white-collar positions,
as blue-collar roles generally have more regular
and specific key performance indicators,”
says Pacor.
“There is also a school of thought that people
in task-orientated positions or ones that have
regular deadlines are less likely to procrastinate
than those who operate in long-term projects,
innovation or creative positions, where
timelines are not as tight. When a task becomes
challenging, there can be a belief that there is
plenty of time, so the task is pushed back.”
What should you do if you are managing
someone who is a procrastinator?
“If I’m just interested in making sure they
get the job done, I would be trying to set
deadlines that are going to keep them on
task,” Knowles says.
However, Knowles’s research suggests that
deadlines can be a double-edged sword. If
you give a procrastinator what you think is a
generous deadline to get something done, you
may actually have given them an excuse to delay.
“Think carefully about the deadlines that
you give people to do something,” he says. “If
I want you to do something for me, I’m best
to give you either a fairly short deadline or not
mention a deadline at all.”
Managers can also observe when their
employees are at their most productive and
schedule critical outputs around that. For
example, it might be better to let people get
stuck into work in the mornings, when they are
fresh and focused, rather than filling up those
timeslots with routine team meetings.
“A worker may not procrastinate at all in the
morning, but may be a heavy procrastinator
in the afternoon, when energy levels decline,”
Pacor says. “It is helpful for leaders to
understand the triggers for workers, so that
they can maximise work output at the right
time of day.”
In addition to these short-term strategies,
Knowles suggests a long-term solution – get
the employee to recognise that they are a
procrastinator and start using some strategies
to keep themselves on task.
“That’s particularly important if you’ve
observed they are a procrastinator, but they are
not someone who works well under pressure,”
he says. “You might need to remind them of
a situation when procrastination has caused
difficulties for them in the past.”
As many chronic procrastinators will
testify, developing strategies to overcome
procrastination can be immensely helpful in
breaking the cycle and increasing productivity.
However, the best motivator might be a little
more self-reflection, says Knowles.
“When we procrastinate, we are not behaving
the way our future self would want us to.
Maybe what we need to do is ask what our
future self would think about it.”
BORROW
Eat That Frog!
Action Workbook:
21 Great Ways to
Stop Procrastinating
and Get More Done
in Less Time from
the CPA Library
READ
an INTHEBLACK
article on improving
concentration
intheblack.cpaaustralia.com.au 55
