When Everything Is Urgent, Nothing Is

Lately, I’ve been using the term “manufactured urgency” to describe situations where there is a deadline, but the reason for that specific deadline seems rooted more in preference than necessity.

Working in healthcare, true urgency is easy to recognize. It’s the patient arriving in the emergency department, the patient whose condition is rapidly declining, or the child with a dangerously high fever. These are situations where an immediate response is necessary and can mean the difference between life and death.

But not everything we encounter at work carries that same level of urgency.

Don’t get me wrong—deadlines are important. They clarify expectations, create accountability, and keep work moving. The issue isn’t having deadlines; it’s creating unnecessary pressure by setting deadlines that don’t allow the appropriate amount of time to produce quality work.

As leaders, we’ve all done it. We’ve asked for something by the end of the day when tomorrow would have been fine. Sometimes there’s a legitimate reason. Maybe a decision has to be made quickly, and our teams need to understand why. But other times, we simply want the information sooner.

And that’s when we should pause and ask ourselves: Is this truly urgent, or is it just convenient for me to have it now?

Because manufactured urgency has consequences. It can lead to mistakes, poor work, and employee burnout. It also creates a constant feeling that employees are behind, even when they’re actually accomplishing a tremendous amount.

Perhaps the bigger risk, though, is that when everything becomes urgent, people eventually become desensitized to urgency altogether.

Think about the boy who cried wolf. If every situation is presented as an emergency, eventually people stop responding like it is one.

So what can we do as leaders?

1. Ask “Why?” before assigning a deadline.
Before telling someone something needs to be done by tomorrow, ask yourself why tomorrow matters. Is there a real consequence if it doesn’t happen? If the answer is simply, “I’d like to have it,” consider whether the timeline needs to be as aggressive as you initially thought.

2. Communicate the reason behind the urgency.
When something truly does need to happen quickly, explain why. Giving people the context behind the deadline helps them understand the priority and make better decisions about their other work.

3. Separate “urgent” from “important.”
Not everything that is important needs to happen immediately. Sometimes we confuse the two. A project can be incredibly valuable without requiring someone to drop everything else to complete it today.

4. Give your team permission to push back.
If employees know that every deadline is non-negotiable, they may never tell you when a timeline is unrealistic. Create an environment where someone can say, “I can get this done by tomorrow, but if we give it another two days, the quality will be significantly better.”

5. Model the behavior yourself.
Leaders set the tone. If we constantly label everything as urgent, send late-night requests, or expect immediate responses, our teams will learn that this is simply how work gets done. Sometimes the best way to reduce manufactured urgency is to stop creating it ourselves.

We live in a world of instant gratification. We’re used to getting answers immediately, but good work doesn’t always happen immediately. Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is advocate for the time necessary to produce a quality outcome rather than creating pressure simply because we want an answer now.

The Takeaway

Urgency should mean something.

There will always be moments when we need to move quickly. Good leaders recognize those moments and rally their teams to respond.

But good leadership also means recognizing when something isn't truly urgent.

Before creating another aggressive deadline, take a moment to ask yourself: Does this really need to happen now, or do I simply want it now?

The difference may seem small, but over time it can have a significant impact on your team.

Because when everything is urgent, nothing is.

And when the moment comes that something truly is urgent, we need our people to know the difference.