In many organizations today, there is a pervasive culture of false urgency - a feeling that everything is urgent and must be addressed immediately. This results in a reactive work environment where employees operate in crisis mode, unable to focus on critical priorities and strategic thinking. Though leaders often unintentionally perpetuate this culture, it ultimately hurts productivity and innovation.
Today we will explore how leaders can shift mindsets and behaviors to foster a calm, proactive culture focused on important work. Enabling teams to ignore distracting urgencies allows for deeper thinking, creativity, and stronger results over time.
Defining False Urgency
The first step is distinguishing real urgency from false urgency. Real urgent issues are truly time-sensitive and critical, requiring immediate attention. False urgent matters seem urgent in the moment but actually aren't imperative. This false sense of urgency steals focus from non-urgent but vital activities like strategic planning, development, and relationship building.
Leaders often unknowingly encourage false urgency by rewarding reactive behaviors, ignoring warnings signs, and poor planning. Common tactics like aggressive deadlines, excessive meetings, and constant fire drills train employees to view everything as urgent. This infects the culture and ensures employees never have time for thoughtful work.
Impacts of False Urgency Culture
A culture defined by false urgency has several detrimental impacts:
Focus on speed over quality - Employees hurriedly multitask and produce lower quality work riddled with errors.
Lack of innovation - With no time to think deeply, employees regurgitate old ideas rather than creating novel solutions.
Poor planning - False urgency causes inefficient knee-jerk reactions instead of proactive planning.
Constant stress - Employees feel burned out and unhappy working in perpetual crisis mode.
High turnover - Talented workers leave due to the frustrating environment.
Leaders must recognize these outcomes and commit to changing behaviors that fuel false urgency.
Tactics for Combating False Urgency
Leaders can employ several tactics to reshape how work gets done and positively influence employees' mindsets:
Ban reactive language: Words like “urgent,” “critical,” and “emergency” imply everything is imperative. Ban these fear-inducing terms to reduce pressure. Calm language sets the tone for rational prioritization.
Institute mandatory focus time: Protect 1-2 hours each day when employees work without interruptions on critical projects. Discourage emails, calls, or meetings during these blocks to enable deeper thinking.
Model focused behavior: Leaders should avoid constantly checking emails, working late nights, or calling emergency meetings. This signals to employees they should mimic this reactive behavior. Stay composed under pressure.
Reward long-term goals: Incentivize shipping quality products according to a predefined timeline, not scrambling quickly. Recognize deep work that moves top priorities forward.
Ask “Why now?”: When presented with a new urgent task, probe on why it requires immediate attention. Distinguish real urgency from knee-jerk reactions.
Review priorities weekly: Routinely evaluate priorities and progress. Discontinue projects that balloon needlessly or distract from core goals. Say no to additional superficial urgent work.
Plan ahead: Build fault tolerance and slack into schedules. Anticipate obstacles that may spur false urgency like staff illness or technical errors. Proactive plans prevent reactionary crisis mode.
Take breaks: Encourage employees to disconnect and recharge. Reflection and renewal foster innovation. Prevent burnout with time off.
Implementing these tactics creates an environment where employees can focus, make rational decisions, and drive innovation. The key is changing behaviors over time to reshape ingrained mindsets.
Benefits of Combating False Urgency
Organizations that adopt calm, focused cultures realize many benefits:
Higher quality work - With time to concentrate, employees produce excellent results.
Increased innovation - Employees feel empowered to think big without pressure.
Less turnover - Employees are engaged and happy, choosing to stay.
Improved planning - Realistic timelines and contingency plans prevent fire drills.
Reduced stress and burnout - Employees feel in control and able to manage demands.
Stronger customer experiences - More thoughtful service and fewer errors.
Though initially difficult, leaders must commit to reshaping mindsets and behaviors. When urgency becomes a choice rather than a default reaction, the entire organization wins. Trusted employees reward that trust with loyalty, innovation, and exceptional work.
Conclusion
False urgency has become a problematic norm at many organizations. Though leaders may unintentionally incentivize crisis mode, this reactive culture ultimately hinders productivity and innovation. However, leaders can combat false urgency by banning reactive language, modeling calm behavior, rewarding long-term priorities, and proactively planning. This thoughtful approach enables employees to focus on work that truly matters, fostering engagement, quality, and strong results over time. Organizations that successfully reshape mindsets will outperform chaotic competitors.
Jonathan H. Westover, PhD is Chief Academic & Learning Officer (HCI Academy); Chair/Professor, Organizational Leadership (UVU); OD Consultant (Human Capital Innovations). Read Jonathan Westover's executive profile here.
