One of the most essential skills anyone can have in the workplace is the ability for meeting deadlines. Nobody is perfect and everybody misses a deadline sometimes; often it can be through no fault of their own, but consistently doing so is a good way to damage working relationships, lose clients and prevent your career from going where you want it to go. Luckily, there are steps you can take to get better at this, but first you need to understand why it happens.
Why is meeting deadlines hard?
One study uncovered the ‘planning fallacy’, which is best described as our own optimism being our undoing. Scientifically, some of us struggle to be realistic when estimating how long work will take, and we base our deadlines on the best case scenarios rather than how long a job will take in normal or adverse circumstances. This leaves us with very little chance of actually meeting deadlines that get set.
Another cause is that our minds can work against us even when the deadline is a reasonable one, because we can perceive that deadline as being further away than it actually is. This is even more likely to be the case when the project or task is particularly big, so instead of rushing to get started, our brains tell us that we must have plenty of time to get it done, even when it’s exactly the opposite. With our own minds working against us, it’s no surprise that so many deadlines get missed, even before you take into account how many of us are just bad at time management for meeting deadlines.
How to ensure you will be meeting deadlines in future
So how do you avoid getting into that situation where you are desperately trying to deliver a project with the clock working against you? Unsurprisingly, you need to start right at the beginning, when you are being told what needs to be done, as you need to ensure you completely understand what is being asked of you, otherwise you will end up suffering from delays as you try to correct things at the end. Ask the right questions and you’ll be in a better place to work out how long it will take.
Then you need to make sure you understand what you will require to get the job done on time, so write out a checklist before you start anything else. After that, it’s time to assess the priorities and the best order in which you can get the work done, ideally setting yourself mini-deadlines to break up the project and give yourself a steady flow of goals to aim for. At this stage it’s also a good idea to factor in some leeway time for yourself to allow for things to go wrong.
Time management experts tell us that we’re at our most productive in the early parts of the week, so schedule in the biggest chunks of work for this time so you can power through them when you’re at your best. A major cause of missed deadlines is anything that distracts from what you should be doing, so if you are easily thrown off course, you need to ensure that nothing does crop up to delay you, whether this is colleagues in the workplace, potential extra tasks, or simple distractions like cellphones and social media.
That isn’t to say that technology isn’t your friend in this situation of course. Apps like Todoist can help you stay on track of your to-do list. But if things do go wrong, rather than using tools like email to communicate with your client or boss, you should do it face to face as this is the best way to request something – like a deadline extension for example. It’s never an easy conversation to have, but doing it honestly and frankly will help you in the long run.
Don’t plan too tightly for meeting deadlines
Those who are self-employed know the problem: The customer has an important concern and needs a service as soon as possible. From the entrepreneur’s point of view, the timing of clients is often unrealistic, especially for an entrepreneur whose services are in demand. However, those who depend on the money or simply do not want to scare the customer away are looking for a compromise. Sometimes this means that a deadline is set that you can hardly make – or only with a lot of stress and a night or weekend shift.
Such a procedure may be necessary in exceptional cases. However, it should not become the rule. With deadlines that are too tight, you run the risk of not being able to meet them in the end. Then you put your relationship with the customer or your boss or colleagues at risk – and your reputation at the same time. Unreliability is more damaging in business relationships than making it clear from the outset that you can provide the service in a different period of time than the customer had imagined.
As an entrepreneur or career person, your goal must be to plan your work in such a way that it is doable for you in meeting deadlines. In the long run, it is otherwise likely that your stressful everyday work will bother you so much that it will have health and psychological consequences. From time to time it may be necessary to reject an order or to make it clear that you can only plan it with an appropriate lead time.
Many self-employed people shy away from questioning the conditions demanded by the customer. They are afraid that it will be taken negatively if they take more time than required. In many cases, this concern is unfounded, and when asked, it turns out that it is not a problem for the client if it takes longer. Honest communication is therefore important for both parties.
Even in cases where meeting deadlines is really urgent for the customer, you shouldn’t thoughtlessly say yes and accept a deadline that is completely unrealistic. Even if you get the job done on time, the quality may suffer. It is all the more important to learn to deal with the time pressure from clients. Make it clear to yourself: It speaks for you when you are busy and therefore cannot implement an important project overnight. It is your customer’s job to get in touch with potential partners in good time. Anyone who knows the industry in which you work will also understand that good performance takes time.
Divide the job into individual steps for meeting deadlines
But how do you set deadlines that you can meet? Thorough planning is essential for meeting deadlines. Divide the projecgt into several individual steps in order to be able to plan better. How much time is it likely to take? You should also plan for the unforeseen in meeting deadlines. You may have other important work in the way or an important employee falls ill. Or it simply turns out that some aspects of your performance are more extensive than expected. Seasonal fluctuations in orders can also have an impact.
So that such incidents do not put you under pressure, you should plan a buffer when setting the order deadline. It is always better if you finish earlier than if you have to let them know shortly before the deadline that it will unfortunately take a little longer.
Reliability is an important success factor in meeting deadlines
For a client it is not only important how good the quality of your work is. The external framework conditions also play a decisive role in customer satisfaction. Assuming you did a really good job – but unfortunately only four weeks after the deadline. This will likely be remembered so negatively that you won’t be approached again.
Reliability and trust are crucial factors for good business relationships. You should always keep this in mind when planning your order. So that your business partner can better understand why you are planning your order deadlines and how you plan them, it is helpful to explain the individual steps that are necessary for the implementation of the order.
As a rule, your clients do not know from their own experience which work is behind a certain service in detail. By making this clear, you show the customer that you are not simply naming deadlines at random, but that you are planning the deadline carefully. Many customers misjudge the effort. With this knowledge, most clients also understand order deadlines that are not quite as short as they were hoped for.
Tight deadline? This is the best way to proceed
Even with the best of planning, you may not be able to meet a deadline due to unforeseen circumstances . Then it is best to inform your client of this as soon as possible. It is often difficult to weigh up: Should I let you know immediately if there is any indication that the order deadline is no longer feasible? Or should I give everything until the end – and hope that, contrary to expectations, it will still work out?
You can best estimate how likely it is that you will still be able to deliver on time. If in doubt, it makes more sense to inform your client of the delay as soon as it is foreseeable. It seems unprofessional if you only report this fact after the deadline has passed. Explain to your customer why it is and what time limit is actually realistic. Well-thought-out planning is essential here, because you don’t want to have to put off your customers a second time.
Conclusion
Hopefully though, these tips will ensure that you don’t need to ask for more time as you will be much better prepared to actually meet your deadlines.
