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How to Manage Someone Who Thinks Everything Is Urgent

By Liz Kislik

We’ve all been in situations where we couldn’t wait for a slow-moving or overly cautious employee to take action. But at the other extreme, some employees have such a deep need to get things resolved that they move too quickly, or too intensely, and make a mess. They may make a bad deal just to say they’ve made it or issue a directive without thinking through the ramifications just to say they’ve handled a problem decisively.

The problem is that these employees may have been praised in the past for this very behavior, even when it results in mistakes that they can then heroically “save.” And when urgency is a part of the organizational culture, it may feel like a requirement ...

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