More Ways to Fight Caustic Culture

 

In my last post, the topic was a recent workforce survey and solutions to its highest-rated problem: crushing deadlines. But the respondents identified other high-ranking problems in the daily work environment that you can and should deal with in some way.

Interruptions and broken processes, for example. This is not the first time we have seen a survey rank interruptions high on worker's complaint list. These appear to be pretty universal., so if you did not do anything the last time ideas were given for interruptions, I urge you to do so now.

Try the following:

• In your next meeting, ask if interruptions are affecting productivity and causing people to work long hours.
• Ask them if they think use of personal social media, checking emails or messages are part of the problem for them or their teams. These were identified in the AtTask survey and others.
• Make time for discussions on reducing distractions. Come up with recommendations for the team and for working with others.
• Create team rules that will help everyone. Give the team ownership to select rules and enforce.
• You are a leader. Exemplify the change. If your team says that you are causing interruptions, then make a strong public effort to adjust.

In the survey, non-existent or broken processes were also a major source of frustration. Broken processes can be seen as outside of the control of the project team, so workers feel especially helpless.

But this is not necessarily so in all cases. Consider a phase planning exercise where you ask the following questions of the team responsible for tasks during the phase.

• What is likely to go wrong?
• Who owns the process that is broken or non-existent?
• What are ways we can avoid this problem?
• If we cannot avoid, then what are our alternatives?
• Is it possible to recommend a fix or alternative? (Following an alternate process might be good where you have a smaller project and do not want to follow the complex process for a larger project.)
• Can we pilot a new/alternate process in our project after we create it?

Note that fixing these problems in some way will reduce the second-highest spoiler of the workday: never-ending overtime. Yes, if work flows smoothly (no interruptions and all processes are efficient) workers can be more productive. Being more productive means they will not have to work as long hours to get the expected amount of work done.

In both cases above, you are wearing your facilitator hat, not solving the problem yourself. Playing this role also shows your concern  with the daily problems experienced by your workers, itself useful in helping them cope with these problems and thinking of you as a leader.