When Employees Miss Deadlines Don't assume every glitch is a result of poor performance. Instead, look for failures in the system.

Q: Ihave a small software business, and even though my employees arenot overworked, we constantly run up against deadlines. We breakour necks scurrying around at the last minute to complete tasks ontime. We have even missed a few deadlines. Why can't myemployees plan their time better? Or is there something I should bedoing differently as a manager to improve the situation?

A:Your question reminds me of a saying I made up recently:"People are doing the best they can today, given the way theyare being managed." While it's often satisfying to look toemployees as the source of your problem, it will rarely lead you toa satisfying solution. The fact that you have a general problem ofmeeting deadlines suggests that it's not a performer problem,but rather a system problem.

You are the one who created the environment in which this worktakes place. That environment is, by and large, responsible forwhat employees do on a day-to-day basis. The environment iscomposed not only of the physical aspects, such as office space andequipment, but also the management environment, which includespolicies, procedures and the relationships of managers andsupervisors with employees. The last part of the environment is thesocial aspect, which involves the relationships among peers andwith customers. All these things put together cause the majority ofworkday behavior.

To get to your specific problem of deadlines, I would not lookto employees as the source of your problem. Look instead at how youset deadlines, how you respond to people when they meet them andhow you respond when they don't. If employees frequently missdeadlines or rush around at the last minute to make them, itsuggests to me that the consequences for meeting deadlines are atfault. If the only consequence of meeting a deadline is to avoidyour displeasure or that of a customer, then you can expect at bestlast-minute completion. What you need to do is to create rewardsfor early completion.

For major projects, you might do something like Eastman Chemicaldid several years ago. They set a target date for projectcompletion, and if they met the target before the plannedcompletion date, they were to celebrate that they called Gravy Day,in which executives serve biscuits and gravy at a breakfast meetingto all employees. They tracked their progress daily, and at the endof each week they projected when Gravy Day would occur. As ithappened, the target date was December 31, and the celebration wassometime in mid-November.

Two things are important here: whether the project is large orsmall, individual or group. The first is to assume success and planhow you're going to act when the employees are successful. Whatare you going to do and what are you going to say? The second is tohave a way to see progress along the way. Put a large graph in thework area where everyone involved can see it every day. If you cantrack progress such as percent completion on a daily basis,you'll get a better result than if you graph it only weekly.However, weekly is better than monthly. Monthly graphs are barelybetter than none at all.

One final piece of advice: Check with employees each day. Givethem a chance to show you how they're progressing, how hardthey're working and how clever they are. If you do thesethings, you'll be surprised by how energized your employeeswill become and by the increased pride they take in their work.Before long, meeting deadlines will become a routine part of theworkday.

Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., founder and CEO of managementconsulting firm Aubrey Daniels & Associates (ADA), is aninternationally recognized author, speaker and expert on managementand human performance issues. For more about ADA's seminars andconsulting services or to order Aubrey's book Bringing Out the Best in People: How To Apply TheAstonishing Power of Positive Reinforcement, visit www.aubreydaniels.com, orcontact Laura Lee Glass at (800) 223-6191 or lglass@aubreydaniels.com.

The opinions expressed in this column are thoseof the author, not of BIZ Experiences.com. All answers are intended tobe general in nature, without regard to specific geographical areasor circumstances, and should only be relied upon after consultingan appropriate expert, such as an attorney oraccountant.