How does one manage an irresponsible colleague, boss, or subordinate? There’s a difference between being too relaxed, and being irresponsible. The work ethics I’ve attained and grown up with have turned me into somewhat of a being a ‘perfect’ employee where I intend to make sure that deadlines are met before the actual due date, things are planned months before, and plan B is always available just in case something goes wrong.
However, as each day progresses, I find that I might be one of those rare employees that is actually responsible enough to ensure that things are done on time. Which brings me to ask, are people too relaxed? Or just plain irresponsible?
Everyone deserves a chance to chill at work, and we all do this. I admit it. Nevertheless, being way too chilled is a bit over the board. An employee, who starts work at 8, reads the news first, grabs a cup of coffee, talks to a few colleagues and then rolls up his/her sleeves to start actually working at 11am, is a bit too much.
It makes me wonder. How can someone be so chilled about being relaxed at work? What is it? Don’t they have deadlines? I have faced similar situations where I had a task for an employee and requested it on an urgent basis; only to find that employee working on the urgent task three hours later than actually treating it as an urgent request within the same hour.
So how would you explain the above situation? Such behaviors would lead you sometimes to not depend on anyone, but to always manage things on your own. I would hate it if I was perceived to be an employee who was not a team player but did everything on my own.
I confronted the employee about the late task, I was actually told “Oh, I forgot and thought it wasn’t urgent.” And by the way, this has happened many times with various others and not just the same individual.
Carelessness? Not deeming items as important? Or again, the individual is just too plain relaxed?
My article this time imposes a question more than anything else. I have tried to put myself in their shoes several times, and understand how they’re thinking but have always been unsuccessful. I wonder if these are the types of people that are normally less stressed than everyone else?
Why not be stressed at all? Have less work? Fewer responsibilities? And just chill, and not think of anyone. I would really love your input so I can understand this situation better.
There's something called pointlessness , when any employee reach a certain point in their careers where nothing is improving or will ever change / improve , where everything is beyond their control, where they're just robots and their input doesn't mean anything, where they lack zero authority…even if they once had the "hottest blood" if so to speak & really cared at some point, there will come a time when they in plain and simple terms GIVE UP & treat each day like (whatever) because when you come to think of it they lost their purpose & they're 'tolerating' work like pure zombies. I believe each behavior must always have a reason or several of them, it doesn't mean the zombies are careless or not hardworking than you are, it just means you're still happy or able to survive & still see a point in doing the things you do, but they unfortunately do not anymore 🙂
Interesting way of describing it. There could be some truth in it 🙂
Interesting, Fatma. Very intriguing too. I believe there are several ways to make a person feel responsible for their work besides the fact that they must be accountable for the results of their tasks.
In my opinion, the clarity of the task itself needs to be conveyed, its importance, its priority, and more importantly, its deadline. I believe we're very creative in making up justifications & excuses not to get something done. It's natural. Perhaps the secret to avoid that is not to allow ourselves the time to think in such a way; hence, the clarity of the task point.
Also, motivation would be helpful, and in many cases, it is expected. The lack of it may lead to a slack-off. I'm not saying this is essentual, but it's always good to have.
I read once that it would be very difficult for a person to take their task less seriously if they were told how abundantly important their input would be.
Thank you for making this article so engaging. Wish you all the best.
hahah something we face all the time ,,, from submitting Sail articles all the way to managing employees
its an ongoing challenge ,,, a balance between micro and macro management
good cop bad cop ,,, thats been the most useful for me