We’re midway through our series debunking major myths about people-first workplace cultures. So far, we’ve seen that clear expectations and honest feedback actually strengthen these cultures. This week, we tackle a myth tied to a common misunderstanding of human motivation.
Myth #3: You Can’t Create Urgency
I’ll never forget the conversation with a CEO who was convinced that being “nice” to his employees meant accepting missed deadlines and sluggish project delivery. “If I push too hard for speed, I’ll create a toxic environment,” he worried. “But if I don’t push, nothing gets done on time.”
His assumption revealed a common misconception: that urgency can only be created through pressure, demands, and fear-based tactics.
What he discovered transformed both his leadership style and his team’s performance. True urgency doesn’t come from external pressure—it comes from internal drive connected to purpose and clear understanding of impact.
Understanding Real Urgency
Here’s what most leaders miss: people naturally move with urgency when they understand why speed matters and when they feel genuinely invested in the outcome.
Think about your own experience. When do you move fastest? Is it when someone stands over you with demands and threats? Or is it when you’re excited about a project, understand its importance, and feel personally connected to its success?
People-first cultures don’t eliminate urgency—they create sustainable urgency by connecting speed to purpose rather than fear.
The People-First Path to Urgency
Creating urgency through a people-first lens starts with context. Instead of simply demanding faster turnaround times, explain why timing matters. Share how delays impact customers, colleagues, or strategic objectives.
When your marketing team understands that their campaign launch delay affects the sales team’s quarterly goals and ultimately impacts customer acquisition, they naturally feel more motivated to move quickly.
This approach also involves people in solution finding. Rather than dictating impossible timelines, ask questions: “Given what we know about this project’s impact, how can we accelerate our timeline?” “What obstacles are slowing us down, and how can we address them together?”
Urgency vs. Panic
There’s a crucial difference between healthy urgency and destructive panic. Panic creates chaos, mistakes, and burnout. Urgency creates focused energy and collaborative problem-solving.
People-first leaders help their teams distinguish between the two. They create urgency around meaningful deadlines while protecting people from the artificial urgency that comes from poor planning or constantly changing priorities.
They also recognize that sustainable urgency requires adequate resources, clear priorities, and realistic expectations. You can’t ask people to move quickly on everything—that’s not urgency, that’s chaos.
Building Urgency Through Connection
The most effective urgency I’ve witnessed comes from a deep connection to outcomes. When people understand how their quick action positively impacts customers, colleagues, or the company’s mission, they naturally accelerate their efforts.
Share customer stories about how fast delivery made a difference. Explain how meeting this deadline enables the next team to start their critical work. Help people see the human impact of their speed—or their delays.
This approach respects people’s intelligence and natural desire to contribute meaningfully. It assumes they want to do good work quickly, rather than assuming they need to be pushed into action.
Practical Applications
Start team meetings by connecting current projects to larger goals and timelines. Help everyone understand not just what needs to be done, but why speed matters for this particular initiative.
When deadlines shift, explain the reasoning and involve the team in adjusting plans rather than simply announcing new demands.
Celebrate examples of well-executed urgency. Recognize teams that moved quickly without sacrificing quality, and share what made their approach successful.
Address obstacles proactively. If people are moving slowly, find out why. Often, perceived laziness is actually confusion, lack of resources, or competing priorities.
The Sustainable Advantage
People-first approaches to urgency create something traditional pressure-based methods can’t: sustainable high performance. When people feel respected and understand why speed matters, they’ll consistently deliver quick results without the burnout that comes from fear-based urgency.
They also become better at self-managing urgency, learning to recognize when situations truly require speed and when they can maintain a steadier pace.
Next week, we’ll tackle Myth #4: the belief that people-first cultures can’t prioritize client and customer deliverables. We’ll explore how focusing on people actually enhances customer service.
Chock-full of stories, strategies, and ideas, this innovative read will give you the motivation and ideas you need to implement culture transformation in your own business. I promise this book will be one of the best investments you have made in a long time. Meridith Elliott Powell
Grab your copy of Leading with Significance to find more magnetic insights to help you on your unique journey.
For more information on my presentations or to access my beBetter blog library go to joeyhavens.com.
