“YEAH, BUT…
A WOMAN WHO WORKS for me is always messing up the details. She’s not bad enough to be called incompetent, but she’s so borderline that you always worry about her work.”
When someone is always doing marginal work, it can test your ability to have a clear and specific accountability discussion:
“Okay, it’s not that you didn’t respond to the client; it’s that you didn’t do it in what I would call a prompt fashion and you had a bad attitude when you did respond.”
Taking a vague and stilted position like this can be hard to defend and makes you vulnerable to arguments such as “You’re never satisfied no matter how hard I try.” Now it’s your problem, not the other person’s.
Three factors set those who are adept at dealing with subtle, borderline behavior apart from the rest of the pack: research, homework, and connections.
First, you need to gather data. Have a conversation with the marginal performer about what she likes and doesn’t like about her current work situation. What are her frustrations, aspirations, and concerns? Approach your “research” conversation with a genuine desire to discover underlying barriers and then see if you can find ways to resolve them.
Next, scrupulously gather facts — from memory and observation — that will allow you to describe in illuminating detail the difference between mediocrity and excellence. This is crucial. Most people are so vague about that difference that they end up using the feel-good, mean-nothing terms that typically pepper pregame speeches, such as “Your attitude determines your altitude” and “We need you to give 110 percent.” This advice may make sense to those giving it but only confuses and insults the people who are supposed to change.
Ask yourself, “What actual behaviors can I describe to make this distinction clear?” Here is an example:
“I notice that after finishing a letter, you skim it once and then hit ‘send.’ When it’s going to an external recipient, I’ve found that it helps to take three extra steps: read it aloud to see if you’ve captured what you really want to say, reread it a couple of hours later, and then ask a reliable partner to read it thoroughly.”
You will not succeed at helping other people understand the gap between where they are and the vague objective of excellence unless you do the homework required to make your descriptions crystal clear. Carefully gathering useful facts is the homework required for all accountability discussions.
Finally, connect your homework with your research. Explain how your recommendations will not only resolve others’ concerns but also help them achieve their aspirations. When you can make this link, your influence will increase enormously. If you can show the other person how the changes you’re recommending link to his or her own goals, there’s a good chance that the person will be motivated to learn and grow. If you can’t do that, don’t expect the person to improve.
“YEAH, BUT…
WHERE I WORK OUR biggest problem can’t be discussed in public. We’re constantly given more work than we can manage, and then we have to pretend that we’re going to do everything. If you express your concern aloud, you’re treated like you’re not a team player.”
Here’s a trick for getting people to do things you could never ask them to do without getting in trouble. The various branches of the military have been using this technique for years: they encourage recruits who are a few weeks ahead of the brand-new initiates to abuse their peers in ways that people in official positions of authority could never get away with. People will do things to their coworkers that would land their bosses in the slammer if they did the same things.
This is exactly what organizations do when nobody in authority ever says a word, writes a policy, or publishes a document that calls for an unhealthy workload. Who could do such a thing? Instead, bosses make unrealistic demands and then count on the fact that everybody will sit there and take it. Although it’s true that leaders may use their influence to push people to work insane hours or take on insane workloads, if employees put up with the abuse or watch others put up with it, everyone becomes a party to the problem. It’s a conspiracy of silence.
If new employees speak their minds about issues of work-life balance, they’re acutely aware of the fact that if they say something in public, they aren’t merely questioning the boss; they’re going toe-to-toe with the entire “culture.” And if they take on the culture, they won’t be seen as “team players.”
This is a conversation that has to start with Mutual Purpose. Go straight for the issue of being a team player:
“I’d like to talk about a subject that most people don’t seem comfortable discussing in public. My goal is to make sure that we’re all able to contribute to the company and meet our objectives. I want to be a team player, and I want to understand what that takes.”
Next, blend facts and your tentative conclusions:
“There are times when I feel like we’re taking on assignments with deadlines we know we can’t keep. I know I do. We look around the room, and nobody is saying anything, and so we all smile politely and agree. I get the sense that we’re hoping that others won’t be able to meet their obligations, and then, if they speak up first, we won’t get in trouble for missing our deadlines. It’s like playing chicken. Who will be the first to turn away from the head-on collision of a massive assignment soon to meet an impossible deadline? Could we talk about this subject, or am I the only one who sees it this way?”
At this point you’ll have to explore all the underlying sources that are leading to a culture of impossibility. Don’t point fingers; look for causes. Remember, the world around you has been perfectly organized to create a culture in which smart people are doing stupid things. What are you doing to each other? How many of the issues are structural? What’s going on in the environment that’s forcing people into such unfavorable circumstances?
This is a huge issue. It’s causing more stress with more people than most of us might imagine. As international competition increases and resources continue to be cut, hours increase. The workload goes from doable, to nearly impossible, to a joke. We’re now overworked, stressed, and dishonest.
This is probably a conversation you want to have with several people in private before bringing it up in public. Unlike just about everything we’ve talked about until now, this is not a problem that is solved one-to-one because it’s part of the whole culture. But it is a problem that is best prepared one-to-one. Meet with several colleagues. See if others share your concerns. If they do, ask them to share their honest opinions when you do bring up the issue. Then go public.
“YEAH, BUT…
I KEEP BRINGING UP THE SAME problems over and over, and my spouse and children continue in their old ways. It makes me feel like a nag, and I don’t want to be a nag.”