Why don't people do what they should?

[eris esoteric]

As mentioned in my dog people / cat people thread, I'm into management by manipulation. I'm staff. I get on people's good sides, and help remind them of why it's important to do things, and to do them the way they need to be done. I'm great at support, I'm lousy at actual management. When I'm actually in charge, I tend to micro manage to excessive degrees.

I personally hate the word "should". Yes, people SHOULD do what they're supposed to do. But they don't. Yes, a paycheck SHOULD be motivation, but it's not. My view is that you have to look for what people need to hear. You have to find out what's important to them, and you have to help them see that doing things, and doing them right, is important as well.

What helps you figure out how to get people involved, and interested in doing what they SHOULD do?

[theworm[$]]

A good friend of mine told me to wipe the word "should" out of my vocabulary. Should is a word that causes guilt. I "should" do so and so, which means I don't want to, or I'm too lazy, but I'm going to feel badly about it. She hates "should". We either do or we don't. If something is a task at work, it's not a matter of what people "should" do - it's a matter of DOing one's job. It's not a should - its a responsiblity, and we don't have to like them all, but thats why we get paid.

[pluckyduck]

Great question.

I have a much easier time contemplating that outside our organization than internally. Outside, I'm always looking for an individual's motivators.

If someone is in sales, for instance, I'll outline for them what they have to do to make the sale, keep our business, grow our business, and how big the business could grow. That becomes "get me a fast quote without mistakes, work around tight deadlines, follow our order closely, you get $$$ commission again and again"

If someone is in sales service (and not $ compensated by sales), I approach with a "how can we make your job easier" pitch. We need XYZ to happen in this amount of time, what can we do to make it easy for you to make that happen, we know how difficult some customers (not us!) are.

Inside the organization, I'm less thoughtful. I do expect that people do their jobs without wheedling, but I've found that personalizing interactions as much as possible is a big help (with the right person on the other side). I'll go so far as to explain why XYZ is important to the Big Picture (or to me personally) and enlist help or cooperation ... not just dump things on people.

That all only goes so far, though, inside or outside the organization. I have an internal limit as to how much I'm willing to do to get somebody else "on board". Somebody who is too high maintenance needs to move on.....or I need to move on to another source.

Andrea

[frazzledspice]

I don't know your company.

What I do know is that, more and more, when people leave companies they aren't replaced. When there are layoffs companies take longer to rehire.

What's called "productivity" is the miracle of two people doing the work that three people used to do while being grateful they still have a job.

So, if your employees don't do all they should do, is it because they're holding down a fort that's seriously understaffed? If that's so, maybe you should try to go to bat for them and see if you can get a position added.

Are there jobs too boring? Craftsmen were always able to see the big picture. When everyone has a little chunk, they lose sight of the big picture (this is more true of factory work, of course.)

Finally, there's less company loyalty, because experience has taught people that the company looks at them as expendable. It's hard not to be cynical.

If none of these applies, perhaps what the people need are some instruction in organizational skills, goal setting, etc.

[pluckyduck]

Hey Maryanne -

I don't know anything about managing layoff situations, thank heavens. All I've ever known is growth, again, thank heavens and knock wood spit spit. The direct marketing division started off with me and a photocopier and some inventory I kept in a stairwell against fire regulations.

Because we are a growth operation, we are constantly adding positions. The challenge in growth is hiring the right people quickly enough and getting them trained quickly enough. (Or, cutting them loose quickly enough so you can hire more staff quickly enough...rinse and repeat.)

This is not my talent, as was proved in the early years when I hired anybody I liked just because I had to fill positions quickly and then had to live with the messes I made.

Stepped away from staffing and training a few years back and good thing I did. My partner at work does this and he has done a phenomenal job. Took him quite awhile to build a staff...the patience is breathtaking. I was fluttering all around him a few weeks back -- we need more people! We need five more people! You have to get more people! (Not only are we in a serious growth spurt, but we've lost a couple of people to transfers and have another few on maternity leave.) He just won't hire until he finds the right people, and he doesn't care if he has to interview and screen 100 people in the process.

A relatively recent (last year) hire was in the room when I was fluttering around him. I said to her, hey, how do you feel about this? We are understaffed here, how do you feel? And she said, I've worked in jobs where managers would hire anybody who walked through the door just to fill a position, and that caused me way more work and stress than I could deal with. I'd rather have extra work while somebody looks for the right person to hire.

---------------

So, we don't have any systemic problems internally with people who don't do what they should do. If the person doesn't, they are out the door...and that happens so rarely now, I can't even think of the last time, because my partner is hiring so well.

In general, though, we have a corporate culture that doesn't tolerate anybody, including me or the people who own the company, not doing what they "should" do. We're all at least a bit overworked, and it's not an excuse for letting a coworker or a customer down....and it's never a reason for copping an attitude. People know that if they are swamped, they are supposed to raise a big white flag that says 'HELP" and somebody will help them.

So, as a r-e-a-l-l-y long loop back to the original topic of this thread, I'd say that the corporate culture standards have great bearing on how much you need to do to get somebody else to do what they should do! (say THAT 10 times fast)

People should be expected to do their job well with a good attitude. I also believe (personally) that "please" and "thank you" is a standard courtesy that makes everybody's day go a lot more smoothly. Women have a tendency to say "Could you..." "Would you...." "Do you mind..." which can be perceived as weakeners of power, but I've never found that to be the case. We have a lot of that sort of "speak" around our place, and it doesn't seem to do a thing except make the day nicer and make relationships flow better. We all know what has to be done.

Long reply, mini ramble....ready for bed!

Andrea