Lesson 4.5

Deadlines, Priorities & Early Warning

Estimated time: 7 minutes

A deadline does not suddenly become important five minutes before it expires.

Professional employees keep some awareness of:

what is due
when it is due
what could delay it
which tasks are urgent
when help may be needed

Scenario

A report is due Friday.

By Wednesday, the employee already knows an important piece of information is missing.

The employee says nothing.

Friday afternoon arrives.

The report cannot be completed.

The employee says:

“I couldn’t finish because I never got the information.”

The missing information may be a valid problem.

But waiting until the deadline to reveal the problem created another problem.

Better

On Wednesday:

“The report is due Friday and I am still missing the figures from accounts. I have followed up, but if I don’t receive them by tomorrow we may miss the deadline. Can you advise on the next step?”

Now the workplace has time to respond.

Early Warning Is Valuable

Managers cannot help solve a problem they do not know exists.

Customers cannot adjust to a delay nobody tells them about.

Coworkers cannot cover work they discover only after the deadline has passed.

Remember

Do not report a preventable crisis at the same time you report the problem that created it.

Quick Check

You realize two days before a deadline that required information is missing. What is best?

More Workplace Examples

An early warning

A salon employee sees in the morning that a supply order needed for the afternoon is not confirmed.

BETTER RESPONSE

Follow up and alert the supervisor while there is still time to use an approved alternative. Explain what is missing and how it affects the work.

Workplace situation

An employee knows a task is at risk but waits until after the deadline to say, “I could not finish.”

BETTER RESPONSE

“This task is at risk because the required item has not arrived. Here is what is complete; can we agree on the next step before the deadline?”

Competing urgent tasks

A receptionist is asked to prepare an urgent document while also covering a busy front desk.

BETTER RESPONSE

Explain the competing tasks and ask the supervisor which takes priority or who can provide cover. Do not quietly abandon either responsibility.

Depending on a colleague

A school administrator needs attendance figures from a teacher to finish a report.

BETTER RESPONSE

Request the figures with the agreed deadline, follow up and alert the responsible person early if they remain missing. Complete the parts that do not depend on them.