How can I address colleagues leaving tasks until the last minute?

[Aveno432]

I work in a senior position in a small organisation. I'm becoming increasingly tired at how last minute tasks are done. Everything done by deadlines but it's always very last minute which causes stress and and things being done in a rush. I have explicitly said this so many times but things don't change as people are inundated. As someone who works more quickly and more in advance I find it infuriating but I recognise I'm not the most patient with this so perhaps it's my problem. I'm often waiting for other people to do their elements before I can start mine and it causes stress. How do I change this or drip feed the impact?

I have a colleague who is a perfection princess and says can’t understand why clinical staff don’t go home on time and work through their lunch. She genuinely believes she is super organised and has zero insight into how much heavier other people’s workloads are. Bless her.

In that case you need to suck it up- they’re meeting the deadlines so they’re not doing anything wrong. You can’t expect them to work to your arbitrary made up deadline.

This has come up as a problem in a team I manage. One member of staff (who is neurodivergent, which is relevant here) really, really struggles if people aren't doing things well before deadlines. It makes her very anxious. I've had to speak kindly to her about not trying to manage other people (including me!) when it isn't her role, but also I have worked on trying to make sure there's some reassurance for her that tasks will get done. So, for instance, if I'm supposed to be reviewing something she's written by the end of the month she would like me to have done it almost as soon as I get it - I can't commit to that, but I can usually let her know when I think I'll get to it, even if that is the 30th. That isn't perfect for her, but it seems to help. I also try and keep deadlines that she's worried about visible in some way - e.g. note them on an agenda for a team meeting. Again, this doesn't actually mean people get it done any sooner, but she seems to feel less anxious about it if she can see that we're all aware of it.

She also - and this is the bit that might be more relevant to you, OP - would rather have longer with the work herself so she can spend longer on it. As her boss I don't actually always want her to do that - sometimes I'd rather it was done to 90% in two days than to 99% but she spends two weeks on it. As people have said, if the deadlines genuinely don't give you enough time then that needs raising - but if everything seems to be going ok maybe everyone is actually spending enough time on them?

This. I do my best work when my back’s against the wall. That’s the entire point of deadlines. You’re going to have to pull the deadlines for the team forward if you want them to work differently.

Is the problem too many people working on little parts of whole? Try consolidating work so it’s more time and cost effective. You may need to teach each other aspects of roles but in small business that’s what’s needed

The issue sounds as if the deadlines have not been appropriately calculated. Whoever is giving the deadlines needs to ensure that the deadline for the person passing work to you is early enough for you to be able to complete your input by your deadline. If you all have the same deadline, that’s a management issue. If your deadlines are unreasonable or unrealistic, so that you are not given the work in time, that is again a management issue.
Have you told your manager that you frequently need more time after receiving the work to do, and ask them to space out the deadlines?

Could you do anything to streamline the process? Perhaps hone the templates, or create a library of standard paragraphs, or organise a meeting about streamlining in which one of the things you argue for is an extra 24-48h between their deadline and your deadline? Talk to your manager about whether there is any way to decouple your bit from their bit at all?

They may still work right up to the wire but if you can make their job easier & quicker that can only help. If their deadline is too close to your deadline then it is reasonable for you to ask for more time. Or can you help yourself by anticipating the problem and making sure your diary is blocked out between their deadline and your deadline? Perhaps you do this anyway but if not it would be a way of limiting the impact on you.

Rather than going in piecemeal where I understand you might not have the authority, you might be able to propose and get through a general "stuff needs to be out in draft for Legal to review 3 days before each deadline" kind of thing. That might be doable by influencing rather than by authority. If you try to get them to do it all asap that is difficult to achieve, but a bigger window between their deadline might be possible & reasonable.

the deadlines are the issue.

if Mary has to do X then pass it to you to do Y by the 31st July, and both your deadlines are 31zt July, then you will always be rushing. they need a deadline a week earlier than you.

but as everyone is always slow, then surely you're busy doing work from whatever last minute stuff they just did, rather than twiddling your thumbs for a week. if they're inundated and you're waiting for work, you need to speak to someone or look at the work balance of the team

It doesn't sound like the OP is ever missing her own deadlines because of this, and nor does she say the quality isn't ok. From a management point of view the deadlines work just fine. OP feels psychologically uncomfortable working close to deadline, which is a separate issue. Also, how she's proposing working - everyone does quick tasks as soon as they get them so that they don't have to add them to the to-do list - is potentially really inefficient. There are tasks I deliberately bunch up because it takes much less time overall if I do, say, all the payment approvals in one hour rather than random 5 minutes here and there.

I have a few in my team who are like this. I now give them my own deadlines which are about 2 weeks before its actually required 😬 works a treat.

I work in a role whereby If i need a report, I need to review it, it needs to go back to the author and possibly others for updates then i need to review again and then it needs to go to two others for review before it can be released by the deadline.

I make a very clear plan with days of contingency to allow for reviews and then diarise everyone’s review/deadline time. I make sure everyone knows what’s expected and I allow sufficient time for everyone to do their bits. Usually I get the author to the plan so they know exactly what is expected.

Are you not doing this? Are you saying ‘deadline is 31st’ and hoping everyone organises themselves?

This is a project management issue not a staff issue. You need to coordinate better with the other people at your level or above who are setting the deadlines. If you actually need X done by 1 August in order for your team to have enough time to do their work well, this is something you can raise with whoever sets that deadline. You may need to be quite assertive about it, and to raise it as early as possible in the process.

I’m working on a really substantial 2 year project at the moment across multiple teams, with both internal and statutory deadlines. I spend quite a lot of time on this sort of planning. If you need people to finish their tasks before the deadline then the deadline is wrong. If there’s no mechanism for you to raise that then the process is wrong. If you try to fix it by asking people to finish their work ahead of time (other than as a one off) you’ll just end up with pissed off people.

I think more of you would understand if you were in my position and saw what I saw but I do appreciate your thoughts.

If you can't meet your deadline because others are leaving things to the last minute before letting you have them, then contact the person you report to, saying that you are still waiting for X from colleague and once you receive it, you will be able to complete your task.

Also, contact the collegue whose task you need and tell them when you need it by, copying your manager into that email.

Well of course none of us can see what you see, so why not explain it? At the moment it sounds like a management issue and people have given some detailed practical solutions. Maybe they’re not achievable, but if you explain more people will try to help you find a solution.

Right so either explain it or don't start a thread on a forum about it and expect everyone to agree with you without being able to "see what you see".

If your work is dependent on others finishing work by a set deadline, then you need to give them a deadline a day before yours. Then you have everything together and less last minute for you to collate. (Hope I've understood you problem correctly!)
Or you have to break a task down for them - so they have 2/3 smaller deadlines. Or they have to give regular progress reports to you and you deal with slackers accordingly!!

I didn't expect everyone to agree with me.

Whatever you do, don’t sent “gentle reminders” to people before their deadlines.
Change the deadline or trust your colleagues to manage their workload.

This is the complete answer.

You can only do any of these things if you manage them!

Or if you manage the project. And if you don’t manage the project, it seems like rushing to complete tasks is covering up the problem that the project manager should know so they can address.