Why urgent email labels harm team dynamics

Last week, a colleague escalated this to me: I’ve been working late every night. Everything is marked urgent. But honestly… I don’t even know if half of this work matters anymore. That hit me hard. Because it’s not just them — it’s many of us. We’re busy. Always moving. Always doing. But sometimes… it feels hollow. This is the trap of fake urgency — where motion replaces meaning. Where to-do lists grow longer, but real priorities get lost. Psychologists call it task-based avoidance: staying “productive” to dodge discomfort, not to move forward. 👉 Here’s the real danger: If we never pause to ask, Is this truly important? we risk running hard… in the wrong direction. I would advise #Leaders: Before labeling everything “urgent,” stop and reflect. Is this truly critical, or am I creating unnecessary pressure? Fake urgency doesn’t just waste time — it impacts your team’s #physical and #mentalhealth. On the other side, it feels like slogging. Blindly following commands. Drowning in “high priorities.” The toll is real — stress, burnout, and resentment. #Urgency should be the exception, not the #culture. True #leadership is choosing what really matters — and protecting your team’s energy for it. Have you seen fake urgency at work? How did it affect you or your team? #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #EmployeeWellbeing #HR #Productivity

POV: It’s Friday, the end of a long week, and you’re already daydreaming about some well-deserved downtime. Then, you get an email. “Hi, can you check on this task, its really urgent” Sound familiar? If you’re a Product Manager, this is practically a rite of passage. I vividly recall one week when I got tagged on 7 separate ‘Priority’ tasks—each more “urgent” than the last. At one point, I stared at my screen, muttering, "How is everything number one? But I’ve realized the problem isn’t just the requests—it’s also the fact that its tagged “urgent”. When everything is labeled ‘urgent,’ teams get overwhelmed, priorities blur, and long-term goals are often sacrificed for short-term panic fixes. So, how do you bring clarity to the chaos? Over time, I’ve developed a system that helps me stay on track: 📍 Pause to assess: Breathe and assess what’s truly important using a framework built around user needs, business impact, and team capacity. 📍 Communicate: Be transparent with stakeholders about what can wait and what can’t. It is important to discuss trade offs as well with the respective costs/impact clearly spelt out. 📍 Update: Maintain alignment by providing regular updates on progress. Handling stakeholder chaos isn’t easy, but it’s possible with structure and clarity. Ever been in this situation? How did you handle it? or how would you tackle it?

Leaders: Not Everything Is an Emergency One of the biggest pitfalls in leadership that I see are VPs and directors treating every task like it’s urgent.  When everything becomes urgent ASAP today, teams experience burnout, confusion and end up spinning their wheels because this constant scrambling drives poor decision making (done being better than perfect) as well as an inability to plan because the team is always reacting. The reality is that not everything can be, or should be, urgent. Labeling every task as “urgent” doesn’t just lead to stress.... it also causes people (leaders included) to lose sight of what really drives results.  Here’s a better approach to ensuring team alignment and prioritization on what matters most: Distinguish Between Urgent and Important: Urgent tasks often have a clear, immediate deadline tied to an external factor....a client deliverable is due tomorrow OR a last-minute market shift requires immediate action. Important tasks, on the other hand, are those that advance long-term goals and priorities, like improving a sales process or strategizing for entering a new market.  Before marking something as “urgent” ask yourself: Does this task align with a short-term deadline or is it more valuable to allow time for depth and quality? Empower Prioritization: Leaders who communicate true priorities create a culture of clarity and purpose.  For example, if the primary goal for Q4 is closing deals, a leader should direct the team to prioritize sales outreach over lower-impact tasks like preparing detailed internal reports.  This teaches the team to recognize what’s core to success, what drives the mission forward and how to distinguish valuable tasks from those that are less critical. Give your Team Realistic Deadlines: A team that feels constantly rushed won’t feel supported; they’ll feel pressured. Give people room to do their best work and they will bring you better solutions, fresh perspectives and lasting results.   When teams feel trusted to meet realistic goals, they deliver work that is not only on time but also impactful.  Encourage an open dialogue around deadlines so the team members feel comfortable seeking clarification or asking for additional time, when needed. A true leader knows urgency has its place, but so does strategic patience. When you create a culture where priorities are clear and urgency is meaningful, you encourage your team to stay focused, motivated and committed to high-impact work. Next time you feel the need to sound the “urgency” bells..... ask if Is it time-sensitive or do I need my team to be focused on their top tasks with no interruption for the best results?  That will let you know if immediate action is needed or if the team can create more impact with thoughtful planning and execution. PS -> What tips do you have to prioritize a team's task list and ensure the right things get done to move the business forward? Drop your recs in the comments below

“𝗜𝗳 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀.” 🚨⚖️ I once had a manager who started 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 “𝗨𝗥𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗧.” 90% of the time, it wasn’t. 100% of the time, the team felt stressed. Here’s what I learned: 𝗨𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀. 🚨 If everything is urgent, nothing gets the attention it deserves. 🚨 If urgency becomes the norm, teams operate in 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗶𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲. 🚨 If leaders don’t differentiate between 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘃𝘀. 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁, burnout follows. Instead of treating everything as a fire, great leaders: ✅ Define what’s genuinely urgent. ✅ Teach their teams how to assess urgency vs. importance. ✅ Ensure high-priority work gets focused without distracting from long-term goals. Next time someone says, “This is urgent,” ask: 🔍 𝘐𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺? 🔍 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵? 🔍 𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘳 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨? 💡 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘃𝘀. 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲? #Leadership #UrgencyVsImportance #Cybersecurity #DecisionMaking #deepamcoffeetalks