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'Hell no!' to the arbitrary dealine

'Hell no!' to the arbitrary dealine

Nicola Hopes

5 February 2025

How many times have you received requests like these:

’… so could I please have that by cob Friday. Thank you’

Or worse

’… so could I please have that by 9am Monday. Thank you’
[Aargh! Now your weekend is under threat!]

But (be honest here) have you ever sent these kinds of requests too?! Even when (whisper it), there was no real need for that day to be the deadline. You just wanted to get the damned thing ticked off your list…

Yes? Then you’ve fallen into the Arbitrary Deadline Trap.

Like many of us, you’ve forgotten to ask some key questions…

• Why is Friday so often the magical deadline for all things?
• Is it a real / considered deadline vs something invented on the spot?
• And what happens to that all-important deliverable next?

I learned about this the hard way in corporate life. My team had busted a gut to get a paper to my boss by the magical cob Friday. Only to find out that same boss was in all-day Board meetings the following Monday and Tuesday and had no intention of even looking at it until Wednesday at the earliest.

We waited 5 long days for the feedback on this ‘urgent’ deliverable. And tried not to swear under our breath every time the same boss walked past our desks…

Lesson learned. And I never made the same mistake again.

Whenever anything significant was asked of me, I wouldn’t wait to be set a deadline. Instead of asking when they needed it by, I’d aways ask these magic words: “When will you have time to look at it?”. Then I’d suggest or negotiate a due date that worked.

No more swearing under my breath. Just a win-win: achievable, realistic deadlines for my team and a happy stakeholder.

So, as a leader who sets deadlines, here are 3 quick tips to dodge this trap:

1 – Tailor for working patterns
• The magical ‘cob Friday’ doesn’t work for team members who don’t work on a Friday – they could feel an (unintentional) expectation to change their pattern
• Alternatively, some folk like a Friday deadline – if they happen to work from home that day, they can get their head down and get it finished

2 – Set a realistic time to properly review and feedback
• If your diary is full for the following days (or worse if you’re out of office!), give them a break and be honest about when you really need it
• Also, let them know the likely timeframe for your feedback so they know when to expect it

3 – Be clear on the next steps
• Sounds obvious, but make sure they know what that deliverable is for
- If it’s just for your information, bronze standard might cut it
- If it’s to help the Exec make a multi-million-pound investment decision, then only platinum standard will do
• The context helps them to prioritise where they spend their precious time and not bombard you with unnecessary detail. Everybody wins.

I know this isn’t rocket science but in the hassle of working life, how often do you miss opportunities to build bridges with your team on this?

Trust me, earning some brownie points here will go a long way. And when you need the out-of-the-blue-utterly-ridiculous-short-notice deliverable - your team will pull out all the stops for you, I promise.

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