How to Push Back on an Unrealistic Deadline in Finance

Abstract

This article is about how to push back on an unrealistic deadline in finance, and why the word "sure" so often comes out first. Four findings from research bear on it. A review of studies in which people asked more than 14,000 strangers for favours found that the askers' predictions of how many would say yes fell short by 48 percent on average. The author links this to not appreciating how uncomfortable it is to say no. In interviews with 40 employees, most recalled holding back a concern from a supervisor, mainly for fear of being viewed negatively. In studies of speaking up at work, the outcomes people feared were rarely ones they had experienced. In a study of students' own time forecasts, estimates ran short, and linking past experience to the task at hand removed the optimism. The three steps at the end are practical readings of this research, not tested methods, and they are not advice on employment or legal matters.

The message that arrives at 4:50 p.m.

The message from the CFO arrives at 4:50 p.m. on a Thursday. "Can you turn round the revised forecast by nine tomorrow? The board pack goes out at ten." It is friendly and short, and it comes from someone who may not know what it takes.

You know it takes two days. The model has to be rerun, the headcount inputs are not in yet, and the controller has to review it. You type "Sure." You close the laptop at midnight and lie awake building the plan.

The word came out before the arithmetic did. How to Respond When Your Numbers Are Questioned is about what happens after the numbers are out. This article is about the request that comes before them, and about why it is so hard to push back.

Why "sure" comes out first

Bohns (2016) reviewed research in which people asked more than 14,000 strangers for favours, and compared what the askers predicted with what happened. The askers consistently expected fewer yes answers than they got. On average their predictions of compliance fell short by 48 percent. The author's explanation is that askers do not fully appreciate how uncomfortable it is to say no. The review also discusses conditions that weaken or reverse the effect.

Read the Thursday message through this. Your "sure" may have come from the same discomfort, and the CFO cannot see that. To them a yes looks like a yes. The studies involved strangers and small favours, not bosses and deadlines, so this is an inference. But it suggests that a quick yes tells the person asking very little about what the deadline costs you.

Why saying it out loud feels risky

Milliken, Morrison and Hewlin (2003) interviewed 40 employees about issues they had not raised with their bosses. Most recalled at least one. The main reason was fear of being viewed or labelled negatively, which could damage valued relationships.

Detert and Edmondson (2011) called such beliefs implicit voice theories: taken-for-granted rules about when speaking up is risky or inappropriate. In two of their studies, respondents were asked whether they had actually experienced the outcomes they feared. The fears were rarely based on anything they had experienced.

For the Thursday, the reading is that "if I say it cannot be done, they will think I cannot cope" may be a rule you carry, not something you have seen. That is worth checking before you let it decide. Your CFO might still react badly, and some do. The point is only that the fear is not data about this person. These samples were not finance teams, and neither paper can tell you what your CFO will do.

Why your own estimate may be too short as well

Buehler, Griffin and Ross (1994) asked students to predict how long their own work would take. In one study, 33 honours students predicted that their theses would take 33.9 days on average. The actual average was 55.5 days, and 29.7 percent finished by the date they had called their best guess. Later studies with undergraduates found the same direction of error for smaller projects.

The authors found that people focused on their plans, not on how past projects had gone. In another study, 123 undergraduates had a computer tutorial to finish. One group was asked to recall past experiences and to link them to the task in front of them. Their predictions averaged 7.0 days, and their actual time averaged 7.0 days. Sixty percent finished on time, against 29.3 percent in the control group. Individual predictions were no more precise, because errors in both directions balanced out. So this corrects the optimism. It is not a guarantee.

For the Thursday, your "two days" is itself a forecast, and forecasts of our own work tend to run short. Before you push back, it helps to ground the estimate in how long similar work actually took, and to say which parts of that apply this time. The studies used students, so the numbers are not benchmarks for a finance team.

How to push back on an unrealistic deadline: three steps

None of these guarantees a good reaction. They aim at three things the research points to: the yes that comes before the arithmetic, the fear that may be a rule, and the estimate that may be short.

1. Do not answer in the first minute. Send a holding line: "Let me check what that takes and come back to you by 6." This separates the reflex from the decision. It is a practical reading of the review on refusing, and the review did not test it. If your first move is always the word "sure", How to Identify Your Emotional Triggers (And What to Do About Them) can help you notice what happens in your body at that moment.

2. Build the number from past work. List the tasks the request needs. Next to each, write how long the same task took the last time. Then write what is different this time and what else is already due. For instance: "Model rerun, five hours last quarter. Headcount inputs not received. Controller review, half a day. Audit queries due Friday." This is the "recall and link" step from the study. You now have a date you can defend with something other than a feeling.

3. Reply with options and a decision, not a no. Say what you can deliver by the deadline, what needs more time and when, and what would have to move for the full version to be ready. For instance: "I can send the summary forecast by nine tomorrow. The full version needs until Friday noon, because the headcount inputs arrive tomorrow. If it has to be the full version by nine, the controller review would have to move to Monday. Which do you prefer?" This gives your CFO what a quick yes would have hidden, which is what the deadline costs. It asks for a decision, not for permission. This is an inference, and no study cited here tested it. If the conversation you have been avoiding is bigger than one forecast, Difficult Conversations: A Framework for Honest Communication goes further.

Questions People Ask

How do I tell my boss a deadline is unrealistic?

Start with what you can deliver, not with what you cannot. Name the part that is possible by the date, the date for the rest, and what would have to move. "That is impossible" invites an argument about whether it is impossible. Options invite a decision. No study cited here tested this wording.

Will I look incompetent if I push back on a deadline?

Fear of being viewed negatively was the main reason employees gave for holding back in the interview study. In the voice studies, the feared outcomes were rarely ones people had experienced. Neither tells you how your CFO will react, and nothing here is a promise. A dated option with a trade-off is harder to hear as a complaint than a flat refusal.

What if the deadline is fixed, like a filing date or a board pack?

Then the date does not move, and the conversation is about scope, help and sequence. What can be a first version? Who can do part of it? What can wait until afterwards? The same three steps apply, with the options changed. If your company has rules about escalation or approvals, follow them.

What if my boss says "just make it work"?

Then the cost has been spoken. Write the decision down in two lines, for instance "Summary by nine, full version Friday, as agreed", and send it. Then deliver the part you committed to. If this happens again and again, it is a workload conversation for you and your manager, or for HR if your company has a process. Coaching can help you prepare for that conversation. It cannot change the workload.

When it is more than a hard week

A week of impossible requests is common in reporting season. If you say yes to everything for months, if you lie awake rehearsing replies, or if the thought of ever saying no feels frightening, this is a pattern, not a calendar problem. Burnout in Finance: Why High Performers Hit the Wall describes what that can look like when it builds. If sleep, mood or health are suffering, talk to your doctor. Coaching is educational support for work patterns. It is not treatment and not a substitute for it.

Sources

• Bohns, V. K. (2016). (Mis)understanding our influence over others: A review of the underestimation-of-compliance effect. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25(2), 119–123. DOI: 10.1177/0963721415628011

• Buehler, R., Griffin, D., & Ross, M. (1994). Exploring the "planning fallacy": Why people underestimate their task completion times. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(3), 366–381. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.67.3.366

• Detert, J. R., & Edmondson, A. C. (2011). Implicit voice theories: Taken-for-granted rules of self-censorship at work. Academy of Management Journal, 54(3), 461–488. DOI: 10.5465/AMJ.2011.61967925

• Milliken, F. J., Morrison, E. W., & Hewlin, P. F. (2003). An exploratory study of employee silence: Issues that employees don't communicate upward and why. Journal of Management Studies, 40(6), 1453–1476. DOI: 10.1111/1467-6486.00387