Procrastination in Leaders ~ Reasons .. Costs .. Overcoming

It also creates negative impacts among the very individuals a leader is expected to inspire and lead. Understanding the factors that contribute to procrastination within an organization and its’ various leaders is crucial. Only then can strategies be developed to overcome this issue and enhance their decision-making processes.

The Reasons Underlying Leaders Who Are Inclined to Procrastinate 

Being a leader doesn’t carry with it an immunity to delay or putting off decisions that need to be made to enable the progress envisioned.  And there are several reasons that contribute to this as follows:

• Overwhelm and Uncertainty: Leaders often face complex and challenging tasks in their roles. The sheer magnitude of their responsibilities and the uncertainty surrounding decisions can lead to feelings of overwhelm. Faced with the fear of making the wrong choice, leaders may delay acting, hoping for a clearer path to ‘appear’.

• Avoidance of Difficult Conversations: In leadership positions, difficult conversations with employees, partners, or stakeholders are inevitable. Leaders who avoid confrontation may procrastinate addressing critical issues, leading to escalating problems that become harder to resolve.

• Fear of Failure: Leaders are often under significant pressure to achieve success. The fear of failure can be paralyzing, making leaders hesitant to make decisions or take risks. Procrastination can serve as a defense mechanism to avoid facing potential failure.

  

• Fatigue and Stress: Elevated levels of stress and fatigue can impair cognitive function and decision-making abilities. Leaders who are overwhelmed by stress may resort to procrastination to cope with stress and emotional strain.

• Perfectionism: The desire for perfection is a common trait among leaders. While striving for excellence can be beneficial, an excessive need for perfection can lead to paralysis. Procrastination becomes a way to avoid potential mistakes and criticism hindering progress.

• Time Management Challenges: Despite their high-level organizational skills, leaders can face time management challenges. Juggling numerous responsibilities can lead to procrastination as they struggle to find time for essential tasks among the list of urgent demands.

• Decision Analysis Paralysis: Leaders may get caught up in the analysis of data and information, leading to decision paralysis. They may delay making choices until they feel they have gathered every possible detail, causing delays and missed opportunities.

The Costs of Leaders Who Procrastinate on Those They Lead

• Employees in any organization look to their leaders to provide the direction, tools, enthusiasm and energy to motivate and inspire the desired outcomes. When this is either missing or slow to come it can easily permeate the overall company, departments and teams.

• If the leader isn’t driven to decision-making in a timely basis … why should I?
  

  

  This carries a message that regardless of what has been given as a completion goal for a particular project or task, follow the leader. Obviously, it is not as important as initially indicated.
  
  
• Effective decision-making is a foundation of successful leadership. However, procrastination can significantly impact the quality of decisions made by leaders and decision makers. When tasks and decisions are postponed until the last minute, the decision-making process becomes rushed and hasty. Such decisions are often based on incomplete information, intuition, or even external pressures rather than a thorough analysis of data.

• Leadership procrastination goes beyond the various tasks to be done to achieve the goals. It also impacts employees’ attitudes and behaviors. Their perception of the leader’s procrastination relates negatively to subordinates’ levels of discretionary behavior related to adhering to other expected ‘rules’ of the employment. In terms of less organizational citizenship behavior and more deviant behavior. Thus, a procrastinating leader may also hamper the intentions of his or her employees.

Overcoming the Tendency to Procrastinate

When a leader becomes aware of and can admit that they hold a tendency to procrastinate they have taken the first step to change their pattern and overcome it.  Here are some steps that, when followed, can reverse the tendency and reap the results of doing so:

• Evaluate the risks of failing to address an issue in a timely basis and manner.

  

  Consider the impact of making a delayed decision and providing the needed and awaited answer to a report. Will the task be completed when needed? Will the report interpret the delay as the job being less important and reflect that in how they do it?

• Evaluate the impression you create to those you lead.
  What does providing a decisive response to an employee request or situation mean to a report and all others who will observe or be impacted by the decision?

• Make a decision … any decision when it is needed to achieve the ‘now’ goal.
  Does the leader believe the best decision is the right decision, the second-best decision is the wrong decision and the worst decision is no decision? If so she/he sets the example of not allowing fear of an error to get in the way of timely decisions. All under the label of learner.

• Good time management is a vital part of minimizing procrastination.
  

  

  Allocating specific time in one’s day to address the issues that are challenging is key. It will not happen on its’ own and ultimately it is the leader who will have to take needed action. If a time-involved decision, break it into smaller pieces so that the decision/action can be reached in a reasonable, less stressful manner.

Conclusion:

Procrastination is not laziness: it’s a behavior caused by the stress in our lives or unfounded negative beliefs we have about ourselves. If you tend to procrastinate, don’t be hard on yourself. Instead, ask yourself the true basis of your desire or tendency to delay the needed action or decision. Our reasons for delaying and avoiding are rooted in fear and anxiety-about doing poorly, of losing control, of looking stupid, of having one’s sense of self or self-concept challenged. We avoid doing work to avoid our abilities being judged.

Taking the emotion out of a to-do list, don’t think too much and forgive oneself are particularly effective ways to approach the job of leader.  Is it realistic to believe we can rid ourselves of any procrastination?  Most likely not and still minimizing a tendency to fall victim to it can only increase one’s effectiveness as leader. 
Mike Dorman