29
2008
People Crazy Like Me
In my work with TriOpus Group, I’ve often dealt with clients whose employees work in an environment that is, sadly, so typical of twenty-first century business.
Let me begin by making an unsubstantiated assumption that, for all their efforts, these clients’ corporate goals are being achieved and exceeded and that their customers’ expectations are being more than met. I must emphasize that I have no idea whether or not this is the case. But I say this to keep a level head to what I see happening too often in today’s business.
Firstly, each employee has all the latest technological toys: a Blackberry; a cell phone; a wireless laptop. This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. After all, these tools are but the conduits of modern day business and most of us would be challenged without them. My concern is in how these tools are used or, dare I say, abused. But more of this later.
My bigger concern, of which the technology is just a contributor, is the misuse of time and the total disrespect shown to fellow employees and their time. How does this manifest itself? You may well ask. Brutal as it may seem, many employees spend too much of their work day in meetings. People are often expected at meetings that follow immediately after a previous meeting even though the second meeting may be a ten-minute walk away.
I will not dwell upon the impact of the quality of meetings because of the sheer number (unprepared, rushed, poor results, late for next meetings, little or no follow-up) but would ask you to focus upon the impact on the balance and quality of life for these employees. The obvious fallout is that, because most of the day is spent in meetings, the ‘real work’ has to be done at other times namely by: staying late; taking work home; or coming in on weekends. This, of course, takes a big toll on the personal lives of the employees involved. The imbalance is obvious.
This all brings me back to the technological toys we talked of earlier – the tethers that keep employees ‘plugged in’ at all times. They exacerbate the problem, don’t they? Not only do meetings eat up so much time, not only do employees have to work evenings and weekends, now employees can be interrupted at any time, be it weekends or vacation breaks.
Some people, people crazy like me, have suggested that this should stop or change drastically.
As leaders, all of us should want the best for and from our employees. That goes without saying. I suppose we have two extreme choices. We can lead as I’ve described already: too many meetings; no respect for employees’ time, and push them to work evenings and weekends.
Or, as an alternative, we can lead by creating a culture of balance. We can encourage that, for the most part, our employees leave their work at the office, that they turn their electronica off at reasonable times including weekends, and that they don’t take work with them on vacations.
Some people, people crazy like me, believe that our employees will contribute more to everyone’s success if they have the right balance in their lives.
Crazy uh?
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