People sometimes finish the workday and reflect, “I feel like I was busy all day, but I didn’t get anything done.” If that sounds like someone you know, they could benefit from prioritizing how they will spend their day.

Samantha is the head of innovation at a consumer packaging goods company in Boston. Her day typically starts with reviewing seemingly urgent matters that cropped up overnight. By 9 a.m., she often has already tackled several minor crises, responded to numerous emails, and updated her team on a critical project deadline. Sound familiar?

In today’s fast-paced business world, many executives find themselves trapped in what has been called the “Whac-A-Mole Syndrome.” Others might refer to it as “constantly putting out fires.”

As a child, Samantha loved playing Whac-A-Mole at the local arcade, trying to smack down the mechanical toy with a mallet as quickly as it popped up. Now, at 45, she finds herself playing a far less enjoyable version of the game in her professional life. Whenever she thinks she’s gotten ahead, another “mole” — a falsely urgent task or unexpected problem — pops up, distracting Samantha’s attention from critical projects that, while important, feel less urgent.

She laments about “kids today,” responding like Pavlov’s dog to every beep, whir, and vibration of their mobile devices. Those kids, she observes, are tied to their smartphones like prosthetics. But Samantha is guilty of something similar — we respond to every email, desk bombing, and customer request as if they must be dealt with immediately. However, while often important, they’re rarely urgent, yet we react to them like those kids today responding to the latest meme upload on TikTok.

The urgency trap

A 2015 survey by servicing company TOA Technologies found that 60 percent of executives report spending between 20 and 40 percent of their time on urgent, unplanned tasks or events, with some spending as much as 60 to 80 percent of their time “mole whacking” This phenomenon, which we might call “the urgency trap,” can cost businesses significantly in lost productivity and missed opportunities for innovation.

Samantha’s to-do list is a perfect example of this trap. It’s filled with tasks tagged as “ASAP,” “urgent,” or “time-sensitive.” But how many of these truly can’t wait? Spoiler alert: Very few. And more importantly, how many are preventing her from focusing on the groundbreaking research that could revolutionize her industry?

The high cost of constant firefighting

The cost of this constant firefighting goes beyond just wasted time. It affects mental health, team morale, and, ultimately, the bottom line. A study published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology in 2020 found that employees who experienced a high frequency of unplanned work events reported higher fatigue levels, more physical symptoms, and decreased job satisfaction.

A study by Bain & Co. found that companies that focused on their core business outperformed others by 40 percent in total shareholder returns. For Samantha’s company, their lack of focus translated to delayed product launches and a struggle to retain top talent. The company’s CEO, Kimberly, realized they had to prioritize the company’s to-dos and projects strategically. They made progress by shifting the business’s culture. Here’s how Kimberly, Samantha and her team turned things around:

1. Implement the 1-3-5 Rule: Samantha now identifies one big thing, three medium things, and five small things to focus on daily. This approach is based on the productivity method popularized by Alex Cavoulacos, co-founder of The Muse.
2. Urgency audit: The team needed practice saying “no” or, at least, “not now.” It can be difficult to say “no” to our co-workers if we cannot offer alternatives or explain our reasonings, so the company broke up into small departmental groups to conduct weekly “urgency audits,” in which they challenged the true urgency of tasks.
   This idea is inspired by the Eisenhower Matrix, a time management principle that distinguishes between important and urgent tasks. While some tactics are intended to be permanent, this was implemented with a three-month timeline (nobody wants to permanently add another weekly meeting to their schedule). It was meant to be an executive-led conversation to show the team they were serious about giving them space to work on bigger projects.
3. Time blocking: Kimberly introduced dedicated “time blocks” where the entire executive team is unreachable except for true emergencies. Research from the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems supports this practice, showing that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to task after an interruption.
4. Delegate the mole whacking: They created a “rapid response team” to handle genuinely urgent matters, freeing up executives to focus on strategic initiatives. This aligns with research from the Journal of Management showing that strategic delegation can significantly improve organizational performance.
5. Redefine success metrics: The company now celebrates strategic accomplishments and innovative thinking in performance reviews instead of rewarding constant busyness. This shift is supported by a Human Resource Management Review study showing that outcome-based performance metrics lead to higher job satisfaction and better organizational performance.

Strategically prioritize your projects

You will constantly be presented with what feels like a crisis, fire, mole, or whatever term you use to describe something that may be important but not urgent. Still, it feels urgent enough to distract us from tackling critical company projects. The key is to choose your moles wisely, or not at all. Not every pop-up problem deserves your immediate attention.

 

This article first appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on November 8, 2024.