When urgency becomes a habit in the executive team
Separate genuine deadlines from urgency created by late preparation or unclear authority. The two need different responses.
The performance question
If every proposal is urgent, the executive team cannot reserve attention for the events that genuinely threaten continuity. The useful question is who created the deadline and what would happen if the decision waited. Treat chronic urgency as a planning problem to investigate.
What the evidence supports
HSE notes that workload can drift as activities are gradually added and recommends assessing task demands and priorities. Its Demands standard calls for achievable work within agreed hours. Neither source implies that all urgency is avoidable.12
A practical approach
Keep a fortnightly record of urgent approvals with the external deadline, submission date and consequence of delay. Categorise them as externally imposed, foreseeable or created by internal delay. Change the planning process for the largest foreseeable category. Reserve a distinct escalation channel for safety, service continuity and other agreed critical events.
How to review progress
Review the share of urgent work that was foreseeable and the response time for genuine emergencies. A lower escalation count is not success if important issues are being hidden. Ask frontline teams whether the new rules let them raise necessary concerns promptly.
Sources and references
- Human factors: Workload Opens in a new tab
Health and Safety Executive
Processing limits, task analysis, workload drift and staffing
- Management Standards: Demands Opens in a new tab
Health and Safety Executive
Achievable demands, skills, work patterns and environment
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