Insight #345:
Autumn is when plants slow down and animals speed up. At least, those animals who know it’s time to stock up speed up. Others, like humans, are so stocked up after a summer of plenty that they are even lazier than normal.
So, as fall is finally here, let’s boost productivity by talking about laziness at work. (If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, please wait six months before you read this.)
First, let’s agree that laziness at work is directly linked to boredom. Who is the primary cause of your boredom? Note, I said who not what. If you are like other employees, then the answer is… your manager! According to surveys, if you believe them, millions of employees feel their manager hampers rather than helps their performance. And that managers should simply get out of the way.
Blaming your manager is easy. But, as you get older, you learn you won’t survive, or thrive, on blame alone. (You realize, don’t you, that many of the people you blame don’t even know you exist? Like your manager, who has forgotten you now that you insist on working from home.)
So, maybe your boss is not to blame for your boredom at work and does not need to get out of the way. Maybe you are the one who should get out of the way. By taking a hike before your boss, the one you blame, tells you to take one.
But where should you go? To an organization where shirking is tricky because hiding is impossible. You know where I mean. A smaller organization, one with a flatter hierarchy and less bureaucracy.
Peter Drucker once said that many of his former students were bored working for large companies. After moving to smaller companies, they were much happier.
Why? Because they were busier? Probably. But why were they busier? Because buck passers were immediately visible and promptly gone.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
. . .