Mistake # 31: Let the complaining fester!

Andrew Rondeau claims that there will be greater rage, anger, and/or workplace violence due to today’s economy (rising costs, job uncertainty, layoffs, etc.). I’m not sure that we will see greater workplace violence. But I do believe that people will become a world of complainers.

 

On the Chief Happiness Officer’s blog, Alexander Kjerulf says it best: there is a constructive way to complain. He offers a suggestion to pick one thing that bugs you and decide who to raise it with; when to raise it; and how to raise the issue. Pretty simple, huh? But, you wouldn’t believe how people like to thrive on complaining. One of my direct reports thrives on it. I don’t think there is a day that has gone by where she couldn’t complain about something about work. I just don’t know how people get out of bed in the morning!

 

The answer? Jon Gordon’s No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work gets my top vote! I’m ordering it today! 

 

Mistake #30: Claim the company is sinking

I work with a group of doubters. I’ve go whiners, too, but primarily I work with a bunch of doubters. The doubters claim the company is sinking. Each time the company makes a strategic move, employees think the company is “in jeopardy.”  Many of these employees like to be on the sidelines, giving an analysis of how things are being played out, such as, “they should never have hired X”; “they are moving to distributors and not going to sell direct”; “they are about to give X a pay cut because s/he didn’t bring in the numbers this month.” Whatever the issue, there are a million reasons why everyone wants to be part of the problem, and not part of the solution. Even when you give people praise, they become skeptical.

 

And, when things do fail, it’s all “their fault.” Everything is based on “them” and no one else. I particularly enjoy reading the list of famous people who learned from their failures. I know I have a list of failures throughout my (eclectic!) career. I can admittedly say that I may not have learned from them the first time around. But, I wished I had had the tenacity of some of the most famous failures in history!

 

 

 

Mistake #29: Harvest bad attitudes

In many workplace environments, workers feed off of complaining. In fact, I think that some would be lost if they didn’t have anything to complain about. The problem is that it permeates throughout a department and company, drains those who have to live with the complainers, and interrupts productivity. These people are huge de-motivators and suck the life out of anything that is positive.

 

How do we define ‘attitude’? More importantly, how do we manage it? I have found that, no matter what is done, no matter how much change has been accomplished to alleviate the complaints, it continues to exist.

 

It’s hard to imagine that people can thrive on coming into a workday and are prepared to be negative. Oddly enough, my department consists of mostly females. In a MSNBC poll conducted last year, males were more likely to be better leaders than women, due to a woman’s nature to gossip, be more “catty”, or, yes, I’ll have to use the term, “bitchy.”

 

 

Whatever the sex, and whatever the issues are, how do companies best manage negative attitudes?  

 

Mistake #28: Simultaneous vacations throughout the office

It’s that time of year. Summer vacations. Does the world stop when someone is on vacation? No. In fact, I often lose vacation time. I’ve never found a “good time” to take a vacation. No one does.

 

But, many people who I have talked to say that, “I need a vacation. I have vacation time and I’m taking it.”  I admire people like that.

 

I have always been a manager that believed in not denying a vacation to anyone. Except, it bit me in the behind this time. I had four sales reps on vacation simultaneously. I (the department head) was the backup. I spent more time putting out fires, dealing with customers, identifying solutions, etc., that I couldn’t run a department or get any of my own work done.

 

I always feel guilty going on vacation. I feel as if I leave others bearing the load of me being out. Yet, conversely, it never seems to matter to anyone else when they are out. Come hell or high water, they will use every minute up they are owed.  But I feel guilty doing that. Why is that?

 

 

Mistake #27: Don’t maintain a full and active list of prospects

Do you dial for dollars?  If you do, do you dial for dollars from your full and active list of prospects? There is a difference. If you don’t have a steady flow of prospects in your pipeline, then you need to evaluate your sales model.

 

But do sales people like to prospect? Even sales people do not like to cold call leads, unless they are qualified.  R&R Business Development Blog gives Action Steps in order to focus on prospecting. The real challenge in businesses is to keep the prospect interested.

 

It might not be the correct timing for the prospect to purchase – and establishing a relationship with the prospect allows the salesperson to stay in contact until the opportunity can become a sale.

 

 

Mistake #26: Laugh at loud! (But, not when you are on MySpace)

 

They were laughing loudly, which was disturbing another sales rep, while he was on the phone. With a customer. Why were they laughing? They were checking out someone on Myspace.com. You can’t do that at work! Being their supervisor, I was beside myself! They couldn’t figure out what the problem was.

 

Defiant #1: “Can’t people laugh in the workplace?”

 

Me: “Of course, and I am the first one to encourage people to enjoy themselves!” But, what were you laughing at?”

 

Defiant #2: “Something on MySpace.com.”

 

Me:  “Totally unacceptable!”

 

Defiant #1: “Why?”

 

Are you kidding me! I know she is young, green, and inexperienced, but didn’t anyone – anywhere – inform her or other employees that it is inappropriate to use the Internet during work hours, other than for work purposes? In going to a work environment, that is a given. It shouldn’t even be discussed! (Or, should it?) 

 

Sales are up and I aim to keep them that way. Given the economy, it’s a good thing that sales are up. While other employers are cutting jobs, I am actually hiring.

 

Maybe I should consider cutting some positions. Either that, or I might have to start blocking some sites, including MySpace and Facebook at work…

 

Mistake #25: Don’t do what you are asked to do!

Me:  “This is just for 30 days, but if you can work with “Susan” then I’ll have someone trained by then.”

“Betsy:”  “I’m not working with “Susan.” She chews people up and spits them out. Not even for 30 days. Sorry, but I just am not going to work with her.”

I haven’t previously asked ”Betsy” to do anything ‘above and beyond’. But, now she refused to pitch in until I have someone trained. You can imagine what happens the next time we have a project, or a short-term phase where I need help. Can I expect her to pitch in? I don’t think so. She was the least likely person I thought would refuse. What happens when workers do that? It means that you are left to ask the very same people who put in inordinate hours. Again. I refuse to do it.

Remember, although I’m a boss, I have a boss, too, and need to run a department – efficiently and effectively. I can’t do it when people refuse to do something that I ask. After all, could they do what I do?  If so, could they do it better? I even asked for a solution to working with “Susan”, but “Betsy” didn’ have one.

Could you do your boss’s job? And, if so, what would you do?

 

Mistake #24: Procrastinate!

If you are a procrastinator, raise your hand. Ah ha! I thought so! I bet you went out to buy a lottery ticket before even sitting down to do your taxes (which are due next Tuesday, by the way). I was married to a procrastinator. (“Was” is the operative word, here.) I am the opposite. In fact, I was one of these people in college who would finish my paper a week before it was due. Go ahead. Berate me for that. But, I was able to sleep at night (while I worked three jobs putting myself through and taking more hours than required just so that I could get through it sooner.) Actually, I take that back, I did procrastinate once. I moved into a state where you actually had to take a driving test before getting the license. I refused to do that and, after more than a year, was told, “they changed that – all you do is go in and turn in your current state license and they’ll give you a new one!” It took all of five minutes. That, my friends, was worth procrastinating! But, there are some things (like doing taxes) that really are not worth procrastinating.

One of my direct-reports procrastinates. He did not turn in his monthly report. Well, I take that back. He did turn it in, but it was 8 hours late. So late that I had to turn mine in without his information and sales data in there. I was livid. I don’t get it? Why would you do that to your boss? To piss them off? (Mind you, this is the day after he requested that he get a raise! I think not!)

So, if you procrastinate, do it for a good reason. Are there good reasons to procrastinate? Yes, there are. Lifehack.org blog produced six good reasons to work less and get more accomplished. I see these as procrastinating.

 

Mistake #23: Walk in and tell your boss you are worth it (without proven results)

Before you walk into your bosses office and demand a $100 week raise, think again. No, don’t think, do leg-work. Put a document together that shows your value and to show your boss your that you’ve earned it. Give bulleted lists of how you saved the company money; brought in revenue; increased revenue; increased the client-base; improved a product; enhanced customer service – whatever it is, document, document, document. Why?

Because. (I know, it sounds like my mother…“Because I said so!”) It’s not that no one notices what you do, but you better have good reasons on why you are worth it. I just had an individual

Is he worth it?

His sales are down. Well, no, I take that back, his sales are up by $30,000. But, $27,000 is with one client. The other clients are down. Significantly down. We just had a several-day meeting with this specific high-roller client. This guy (who asked for the raise) didn’t lift a finger. He didn’t “know how to put on an event; had never done it before; wanted to learn from me…” Lots of reasons, but, damn it! I had to do all of the work! And, I am the supervisor!! Instead of asking others for help, he leaves it for me. And, why weren’t contracts finalized this month? “These are ‘beyond my expertise.’ Damn it! And why are the contracts late? “I sent them to “Bob” (the CEO!!), but he never had a chance to read through them. Damn it all!

Want to hear one of the reasons he asked for a raise? “His wife had to take a second job…” Pardon me? Did I hear that right? We know he is making slightly less than he was making at his previous job. However, he works from home in another city. Thus, no commute to an office. He doesn’t have a degree (which is not a good reason to being paid less, but, sorry, I had to get that in there.)  To me it’s all about performance – but there are tons of skilled people with degrees out there that will read contracts and rewrite contracts and it would not be beyond their expertise, and is not required to move to the city in which the company is located.  So, for the money he makes, the effort he puts in, the sales he generates, and the other areas that are “beyond his expertise,” I believe that he is well compensated.

So, before you ask for a raise, be sure you are worth it. Very sure. Be very sure that you can demonstrate that you are very, very worth it. Keep reminding yourself that timing is everything. And, please, ask for a raise, and get it like a man.

 

 

 

 

Mistake #22: Are you adjusting during maternity leave? Rather, I mean your wife’s maternity leave…

I had to do it. I felt badly, but on the other hand, he was constantly doing the opposite of what I had asked. Actually, the last straw was when he called and started out like this: “My wife is all over me… because you asked me to travel out of town back to back.” What? Wait a minute! You aren’t the one on maternity leave! She is! As a woman, and I can’t say this directly to employees, I went straight back to work after delivering twins – I had to travel on overnight trips, I had to work 70 hours a week (for a corporation) plus weekends when necessary, and I had reports and infants keeping me up non-stop every night. And, I was the one who had the C-section and had to function.  And, let’s not forget, I had TWO at the same time!

He was very young, very green, and very un-ambitious. Given he was in sales, that last description didn’t go over well with me. So, I had to ask him to resign. It wasn’t the first time he was doing the opposite of what I had asked. It was happening all along.

Was it the wrong thing to do when his wife just had a baby and he was having problems traveling while she was on maternity leave?

I’m sure his wife was following all of the guidelines on her maternity leave. CareerJournal.com gives guidelines on the first 90 days following maternity leave and back to work. But what about men?! What were his guidelines?

By the way, check out Invisible mothers: a content analysis of motherhood ideologies and myths in magazines, by Deirdre D. Johnston and Debra H. Swanson. It is extremely interesting.

What are your guidelines for couples who are going through a maternity leave together?