If you want your staff to meet deadlines … don't assign them in the first place. At least that's the counterintuitive message from a new study highlighted in Harvard Business Review. According to Amy Meeker, a group of Australian researchers asked 3,276 people to complete an online survey in exchange for a $10 donation to charity. Participants were either given a one-week deadline, a one-month deadline, or no deadline at all. Researchers found that members of the latter group completed more surveys and responded more quickly. Why? Lead researcher Maroš Servátka believes it's because when no deadline is tied to a task, people tend to assume it needs to be completed immediately. On the other hand, when a deadline is assigned, people are more likely to put the work off until the last minute. While this finding might not apply to every context in a school, it might be worth trying out in that next teacher or parent survey. You might be surprised by how quickly a no-deadline survey gets results.
March 1, 2023
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5 min (est.)•
Vol. 80•
No. 6Should Leaders Stop Giving Deadlines?
Credit: INSPIRING / SHUTTERSTOCK
End Notes
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Meeker, A. (2022, September—October). To keep people from procrastinating, don't give them a deadline. Harvard Business Review.
