A sense of urgency?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roy Basil on June 10, 2008 at 1:29pm

I work in a company where this feeling is omnipresent. Since my company is in the market of artistic glasses,it is very normal that requests come for products outside our manufacturing range. However the quantities and the amounts involved are often too attractive to let go. So discussions normally start with a casual query from the sales on the possibility to deliver but it soon develops into a full fledged research and development activity with a deadline attached. So you can imagine how each day passes till one declares whether it is possible to produce or not! Most of the time results are positive but when negative it doesnt feel so good.
Whereas such a feeling is exhausting it is something that propels me to work.The results when they come and if positive do give a sense of fullfilment which is higher than that of one obtained from a routine and planned work.
I enjoy this feeling when this feeling of urgency is well defined in terms of a goal that is to be achieved.On the other hand it can be unproductive to create a sense of urgency and pressure without having defined the goals or roles to achieved or played.That is tiring,strenuous and sometimes demotivating too. I really dont have a solution for such a situation. I try to relax voluntarily to keep myself from getting wound up. Meditation helps.
How to create urgency where it does not exist?
I think this ability to sense or to feel urgency is something related to the human character and also to the culture.I find that in Europe people are more prone to sense the urgency and to act faster. The same is not true in Asia where people are more relaxed in general and take time before deciding how to move.Relaxed probably is not the right way to express the feeling. One could say that the decision times are longer in general and therefore one would not demand a quick decision and therefore one is not expected to take a quick decison or to act quickly.
What I ( we) try to do is to create a sense of ownership within the people.Its not an easy concept to develop since its easier to stay detached and let things go the way they are. However over a period of time such feelings do develop when people are given the right responsibilities and are held responsible for the results both positive and negative.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by James Hayton on June 20, 2008 at 11:40am

These are interesting thoughts. So, one thing we can do is 'be good managers' in terms of ensuring there are clearly communicated links between actions and goals, feedback when goals are achieved, and maybe a modicum of 'risk' in terms of owning the success and failure (and receiving rewards/penalties for those).

Your points about culture are really consistent with what that research says. There is evidence, for example, that different cultures have different orientations to time, and this could be systematically related to being sensitive to urgency. The idea of 'mañana' (which some say means tomorrow, but may be better stated as 'not today') is likely to be associated with strength of a sense of urgency. Other evidence suggests some cultures are better than others at handling multiple events simultaneously.

As with other aspects of culture, these differences could probably be observed at the organizational level as well as the national level. It is interesting that some companies in Italy are better than others at creating a sense of urgency. Perhaps those who have strong Anglo Saxon influences such as Ducati - which was held for some time by the private equity firm TPG - are more readily able to adapt their culture to one with a greater 'feel' for urgency?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by George Reavis on June 30, 2008 at 10:31am

In the Hospitality industry a sense of urgency is critical. There must be a bias for action. A "do it now" attitude. But your right, there must be a fine balance because to much demand especially from above can produce huge stressors that handicap performance. We have found this balance by working backwards, helping line managers work with colleagues on awareness and understanding with a sense of purpose.

For this we use a best practice at least a half-century old in which groups participate in asking (mostly non-verbal) the critical questions for "How are we doing?" This helps everyone learn to let the activity itself provide the feedback (people think for themselves) which involves the heart and mind in daily activities. When this happens people align the activity with a bigger goal and gain a proper sense of urgency for their actions. It also takes much of the 'personal' elements away which become distractions. Activities become the focal points even though people are certainly an important part of those activities.

Simply, our philosophy is that any group leader (even in classroom or educational/training settings) must practice helping everyone with traditional feedback from colleagues and supervisors for executing managerial/administrative functions (which is their training and experience) but for involving hearts (passion) and minds (reflection) they must have the activity itself provide the feedback.

Attachments:

• Engagement cycle.jpeg, 61 KB

▶ Reply to This