Sathish is a person
who is most wanted in the sales team as he is always willing to handle calls of
any other teammate. A quotation has to be sent, Sathish is the person. Anybody
wants any information; they just ping him as he is willing to help. Newcomers
always approach him as he is too caring. Any extra work to be handled, Sathish
is the handyman. Filling in for absentees in the team Sathish is always busy
at work.
When the time for performance evaluation comes all the team members
complain that Sathish is slow at work. He never delivers his targets. Even
small assignments given to him are not completed on time. When the problem was
delved deeper it was found that he is unable to complete his tasks and
assignments as he is always busy helping others in the team which is not being
valued by the team.
When Sathish was called upon to explain his side of the story, he said that though he says “NO”, the team members groan and complain so
much that he eventually succumbs to their requests.
When team members
are being overly helpful, they give an unspoken message to everyone that they
will always be there to offer assistance. When this context has been set, it
will continue endlessly until someone ends it. Please bear in mind that the
people who are being helped are not going to stop asking for help.
In some
organizations, helpful people are treated as great team members. You are
setting up a trap for yourself if you continue to help others during productive
hours. Your performance will suffer and may even cost your job. When you want
to move out of such an organization you may see that you may not even be fit for
taking up challenges in other companies also as you yourself are not focused
on your growth. Teams that may encourage helpfulness and not focus on poor
performance of the members result in poor productivity.
Of course, workplace
distractions are inevitable. A colleague wants help, or there is a staff
morning tea to attend. Be aware of the distractions and the time and energy
being spent. If it is a welcome break it is good. Make sure you limit your
distractions to a break and not a daily habit. The real problems occur when
your team is so easily distracted that it becomes a constant battle to keep
them on task.
Steps to
Reduce Workplace Distractions in Your Team
1: Distracting
Requests need to be handled in a formal process
Dig deeper into the
operation process to understand why certain team members need help on a day to
day basis on the same task. Why is that they are not able to handle it
independently and go for seeking help. This issue has to be provided with a
solution. Develop a process for the same. Create a support queue system so that
the issue is raised as a request and is handed over to the concerned person
instead of disturbing a team member and eating up his valuable team.
When repeated
requests are raised for the same issue, then a solution will evolve and the person raising the request can be trained to handle the issue on their own.
This gives an opportunity for them to grow and become independent and not
disturb their co-workers also.
This technique of
going to a gatekeeper gradually retrains people to use the correct process
rather than to distract somebody constantly. It also makes it slightly more
annoying for them to log a request. It is also noticed
that these workplace distractions disappear entirely because of the
extra effort taken to raise them.
2: Re-training
people to handle distractions
The persons who are
helping do not understand that their productivity is getting hampered because
of being nice to other co-workers. The intention is definitely good but it
should not turn to hamper the company's profitability.
During weekly
reviews they have to be trained not to make other so dependent on them and heed
to every small request and feedback to be provided that helping others is not
the answer to your low productivity. some
measures of consequences of people who distract continuously have to be taken.
When action to
prevent the distractions is not taken, then it will be pointless administrative
work.
3:
Communicate constantly to reinforce the Rules
Many companies
create rules but fail to communicate them at regular intervals. If the rules
are not communicated and not executed then it will not be implemented.
It is very
important to keep stating and enforcing the rules as people do not always get
it at the first go. For example, when a new process like capturing a distraction
has to be requested for is not being done by somebody. Then the person has to
be called and told to do it the correct way.
It is definitely a
joint effort to create a behavioral change as people fall back to old habits
very soon. A person who gets easily distracted not only becomes a poor
performer but also less dependable as they can never meet a deadline.
Without doing all
this the team will become unfocused, less productive and unreliable as few
persons spoil the whole show. So communicate as many times as possible and
enforce it in a manner which will not affect the harmony and the profits of the
entire system.
Comment below with your thoughts.
Watch this space for more insights on healthy mindset for self-leadership. Want to bring about the culture of managing with meditation,
progress and perform mindfully for maximizing your outcomes in a playful
approach at your workplace or in your venture, attend our Turning
Point– Turn in and Tune in workshop. Mail us at culture@hasovan.com for more
details. Our team would be happy to get in touch. Catch the work-place
philosophy of various companies in the book “Erupt with Joy” by Savitha
Hosamane.
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