Workplace Heroes & The Workaround Habit

 

Everyone loves a workplace hero. They get results in difficult circumstances. They are an inspiration to everyone as a reflection of the power of hard work skill.

But wait a minute - it's not all good. What if workplace heroes get results by misusing resources, wasting time, and ignoring policies and procedures? That's not so good. That puts your organization at risk of workplace conflicts, worker dissatisfaction, lawsuits, civil penalties and a damaged reputation.

Maybe a closer look is in order before we fall in love with all heroes. Anita Tucker of the Harvard Business School did just that. She found that when there is low management oversight, you can get a hero culture or a workaround culture.

In a workaround culture - workarounds in this case being a way to circumvent an obstacle without removing an obstacle - workers "meet the demands of the moment" using tactics that work to avoid an obstacle. There are compelling reasons to do this from the worker’s point of view. Heroes can develop when the cumulative cost of problems is low and taking credit is less risky.

But the bottom line is that low management oversight leads to workers

• Preferring to put a patches on problems
• Becoming resigned to avoiding problems when completing tasks
• Not reporting problems nor even pushing to solve problems
• Making more errors as compared to working within a well defined process
• Chronically wasting time in workarounds when a fix would save time every cycle the process/procedure is used.
• Gaining prestige as a hero and someone who can "get the job done" and perhaps get more rewards and compensation.

That's not a workforce you would want to have working in your project. For that matter you would not want them in your organization. Yet it’s the low management oversight that causes workers to exhibit this behavior.

Do you see this type of behavior in your organization? Constant workarounds? Heroes who do not follow standard processes?

The next question must be: What tactics will break the workaround habit?

That's in my next post.