Setting a deadline—and then acting like it’s urgent days later
You say something is due in two weeks. Then, a few days later, you fire off a check-in message: “Hey, how’s that coming along?”
To your coworker, it raises an immediate question: Did the deadline change? Why the sudden panic?
This habit comes up a lot, Green says. “The person sets a deadline but then acts like there’s a problem well before the deadline because they haven’t heard anything,” she says. “It’s not that there’s no room for doing that, because sometimes it does make sense to check in, but often, it’s going to aggravate people because they’re going to feel like, ‘You told me I had two weeks. Why are you nagging me about this now?’”
Often, it’s not about the work—it’s about nerves. If that sounds familiar, make sure the deadline you’re setting is the right one, Green suggests, and accounts for any check-ins you’ll want along the way.
Read the full article here
