I Just Can’t Stop

It was a plea for help. A letter seeking workplace advice after the writer was placed on a performance improvement plan, and he knew the cause of his problem.  This employee often stays up very late at night watching sports, then has difficulty getting to work at 7:00 am the next morning for the start of an early shift. He exacerbates this habit by listening to sports radio all day. The advice that was offered—find a new job or a new hobby or habit.  What? While interesting, the advice doesn’t address the problem.

I’m not a therapist, so I can’t diagnose the problem, even if I suspected some sort of addiction may be involved. It was clear, however, the employee was not in denial.  He acknowledged he couldn’t stop his behavior.  If the problem had been presented to me, I would have asked, “Does your organization have an Employee assistance program?” 

Employee assistance programs, or EAPs, are a tremendous resource for organizations.  An EAP professional can help employees with problems affecting their lives and work and can help managers by assessing a situation and preparing them to address the problem with the employee so the outcome is positive for everyone. 

Of course, in the situation described above, the employee was aware that he had a problem.  That makes it easier to steer him in the right direction. Let him know that the EAP is a resource and explain how to contact them. 

However, that’s not always the case.  An employee may be in denial. Then what’s a manager to do?

Describe the behavior, to both the EAP professional and the employee, in detailed terms. Be specific about the behavior that is causing concern. Provide the employee explicit, quantifiable facts that are hard to refute. For example, “On Monday, you yelled at your co-worker in a tone of voice that was threatening. Several co-workers witnessed and reported it.” This helps to break through the employee's denial that a problem exists, and lets the employee know that you have noticed something. At this point you can offer the EAP as a resource.

When you’re speaking with the employee, keep in mind that you are not a therapist or healthcare provider. Avoid diagnosing the root of the problem. Leave this to the professionals. Your job is to focus on maintaining proficiency and productivity of your department.

Busy is Not the Point

If you don’t follow the great Seth Godin on social media, I highly recommend you start today. He always makes me think.

For example, recently he posted this -- “There are no points for being busy -- busy is not the point.”

This really resonated with me!  I frequently tell people that I don’t just like to be busy. I like to be “crazy busy”.  But as I reflect on my own life, I think I am guilty of thinking being busy in and of itself is a good thing. After reading Seth’s post, I realize I should be refocusing on being productive and being creative. In other words, busy is not the point! 

I know I do this a lot -- I stay busy doing something that I enjoy doing rather than starting a project that I’m not as interested in or just don’t want to do.  It’s another example of why being busy is not the point.

The point is how productive you are – that is, working on things that need to be accomplished.    We all probably know people who are good at looking busy but who are really playing video games on line or shopping on QVC!  Appearing to be busy is also not the point.

If you’ve ever taken a time management class or read a book on how to maximize your time, you probably heard that we all have the very same number of hours in a day or a week to use and there isn’t a thing we can do to gain more hours.  We can only learn how to better use the time available!

I want to be clear -- this is not a blog about time management -- it’s about time maximizing! If you want to maximize your time, consider these two questions:

• How can I make sure I’m not just doing stuff to show activity or avoiding doing something else?  
• How can I use my time to do the things that matter?

Here’s the big lesson for me (and I hope for you) about thinking busy is the point -- learning to say no can make all the difference in the world! When I first started consulting, I said yes to anything anyone asked me to do because I thought if I said no, they’d never ask me again.  I quickly learned that was very faulty thinking, but I don’t think I’ve truly learned how important it is to be comfortable in saying no when what is being asked doesn’t fit into my long-term goals.

Being clear about those goals really makes a difference when you’re asked to take on a new task or responsibility. If it will move your forward, say yes! Consider that saying no allows you to build in time so that if something comes up that you want or need to do, you can say yes!

Many times, what matters isn’t work -- it’s spending time with family or volunteering at a soup kitchen or even having fun.  But if we are so hung up on being busy, we probably are missing out on some things that are a lot more significant in our lives.

Don’t, as Seth Godin says, “be busy being busy, instead of doing what’s important.” 

When There’s a Line Outside Your Door

Has this ever happened to you? You have a well functioning, highly productive team of great people who are doing everything you wanted them to do—well, I may be going a little far with describing a perfect work team but, you get the point.  Things are in good shape and you can get a bit of breathing room and maybe do some strategic thinking or even take a vacation.

Then, seemingly without warning, one of your employees isn’t getting along with the others on the team.  There is a line outside your door of unhappy employees who yesterday were quite satisfied with their working situation, but today are ready to bail on you and your organization.

Your first inclination is probably to shut your office door and hide but, tempting as that may be, you need a plan. The Manager’s Answer Book covers this topic with a question/answer discussion that walks you through a process of how to take corrective action that starts with counseling the employee using these steps:

1. “Point out the differences between what the employee is presently doing and what they should be doing.
2. Describe in specific terms the negative impact the employee’s behavior is having on them, others, and the organization.
3. Give the employee the opportunity to explain. There could be extenuating circumstances. However, don’t get caught up in defensive excuses.”

To get the rest of the steps to take, see page 60 of The Manager’s Answer Book which is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or your local independent bookseller.

Having Fun at Work? A Tip from The Manager’s Answer Book

Wait a minute—isn’t having fun at work an oxymoron?  Isn’t work supposed to be serious just because it’s WORK? Yes, of course—work is serious, unless you’re lucky enough to be a comedy writer or circus clown, but aren’t there ways we can still have some fun at work and still be productive?

Our answer to this question is that not only can you have fun at work, there are good business reasons why you should bring some levity into your organization—none the least of which is that fun at work has a positive impact on your bottom line!

Make sure what you do to lighten the mood at work is not the kind of fun at someone else’s expense—that’s when issues like harassment, bias, and potential bullying pop up but if you know your employees well, I’ll bet you can come up some fun ideas that also might stimulate creativity as well! 

Manager’s Tip:  In The Manager’s Answer Book and give you some no or low-cost examples of things you can try including:

• Theme days
• Trivia contests
• Game days
• Ice breakers at staff meetings
• Improv sessions
• Celebrations for meeting deadlines
• Potlucks, chili cookoffs, tail gate parties

The list of things you can do is endless but be respectful of boundaries. Be sure that you as the manager participate along with other senior managers so your employees see a different side of you!

For more on having fun at work, see page 165 of The Manager’s Answer Book. Which is available at Amazon.com, https://tinyurl.com/y8umaqpz - Barnes & Noble, or your local independent bookstore.