Business executive • MAY 11


doesn’t help his or her people to learn and grow, who rarely shows appreciation and recognition, or who doesn’t trust people with responsibility, will soon zap the motivation of even the most dedicated employee. De-motivated employees do not invest extra effort.


the 5 FRustRations oF WoRk The best managers identify what gets in the way of their people doing their best work and then they remove the obstacle. Even the most dedicated employee will become disillusioned if we make “doing a good job” too hard. And there is plenty that gets in the way – difficulty commuting, long working hours, poor communication, lack of clear vision, unfairness in the workplace. I could go on. Based on experience over the last decade I have identified


5 key frustrations of the workplace which, if they are resolved, get you a big result. Here are brief outlines and simple tips for making a difference to your workplace, today.


Frustration 1 – Waste-of-time meetings We spend approximately 60 hours a month in meetings and 30-50% of this time is wasted. If meetings were more effective your whole working week would suddenly be more productive. Tip – If your meetings are mainly focused on sharing


information, they are a poor use of your time. The best meetings are those where competing opinions are aired. Look at the agenda for your next meeting and take out any items which are purely intended to update the chair or discuss issues where there is already consensus. Focus on exploring the conflicts instead. If you can’t influence the agenda, you can influence whether


you attend. If you don’t add value or get value from attending, agree that you will not be there.


Frustration 2 – Poor leadership About one quarter of people merely tolerate or actively dislike their boss (and perhaps you feel this way about yours). Equally, you may be a manager yourself, wondering if this statistic applies to you. The leader casts a large shadow and the results achieved by their team members are often a direct reflection of their relationship with their manager. Tip – Understand what drives other people. Some people


are more structured, others are more flexible. Some people have an eye for detail, others are more “big picture”. Understanding and adapting to the motivations and work-style preferences of the people around you may seem “soft” and unscientific but you will see the results straight away.


Frustration 3 – Lack of vision Most of us can’t remember what our company’s vision statement says. But without a roadmap that makes us feel part of something, we tend to go off track. Tip – Many employees want their leader to be visionary. If


you manage people, you need to give them a direction. It doesn’t have to be the same as the company direction, (although if these align, so much the better). But having a theme for this year or a challenging and meaningful target which every team member can be part of, helps people feel connected with their work. Performance always improves.


Frustration 4 – Silos When different parts of a business are separated by thick walls that information cannot penetrate, you have what is called a silo. Competition between different offices in the same company, wariness between complementary functions like sales and marketing, and downright hatred between teams certainly doesn’t help you get things done every day. Silos get in the way of our best efforts. Tip – Draw up an influence plan based on the people (or


the job titles if you don’t yet know the names) who would be of most value for you to know. Now pick up the phone and schedule a coffee. Sharing knowledge in this way means you make better informed decisions, develop allies around the business and have someone to sit with at lunch. An example is a manager who set out to break down silos


in his organisation by inventing a project entitled “Almost Famous”. Every week he met or connected with someone in a far flung part of his company, offering to share some information about his part of the business in exchange for information from the other part of the business. At the end of the six month project he and his team were one of the best networked in the organisation and their reputation had been noticeably strengthened.


Frustration 5 – Unfairness No one said work was fair. But is it a requirement of work that we have to behave in ways which conflict with our values just to get the job done? Today’s employees find it more and more distasteful to compromise their sense of what is fair. But how do you know if your behaviour is fair? Tip – One test is to ask yourself whether you would mind


if your actions (or the actions of your colleagues) were printed in the national press. If you could not justify the decisions you’ve taken – given that you are often choosing between a rock and a hard place – you may need to rethink your position. Alternatively, ask whether your Mum would approve.


concLusion Any of these five areas would make a great place to start if you want to make the workplace function better, for the good of your business, your colleagues or your own sense of fulfilment. And successful managers see this as their job. It isn’t what they do in their “spare time”. If managers take the initiative and persist despite the


obstacles, the workplace can really work. With determined effort managers can make it inspiring and fulfilling as well as profitable and successful. If you can help take the dread out of Monday mornings for your staff, you could certainly say you made a difference.


Book offer


We reviewed Blaire Palmer’s latest book What’s Wrong With Work? in our February issue. Her publishers, Wiley, have kindly agreed to give a 20% discount on the cover price for Business Executive readers wishing to own their own copy of the book. Simply go to www.wiley.com, follow the sales route and at the checkout enter the code VB277 to purchase. This offer is available until 30 September 2011.


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