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WITI PERSONAL GROWTH
Eight Things That Can Get You Derailed at Work
Are you finding yourself uncomfortable, overwhelmed, unhappy, or unsuccessful at work but not sure why? Here are eight key environmental factors that can get and keep you off kilter, or knock you off track completely. With the economy in a tailspin this is no time to be floundering. See if you can recognize one of these deadly eight. When you clearly understand the nature of the problem that is undermining you then the direction you need to head to create the solution becomes obvious. 1. Lack of structure It can be tempting to buy into the following idea, “What could be better than working for a company that is loosely structured and highly flexible? One where I could pick and choose what I work on and who I work with, and create my own definition of success.” However, after having coached many talented individuals who worked in loosy-goosy organizational environments and were shocked to receive negative feedback on their performance when they thought they were doing just fine - I offer you some of the things they mentioned that tripped them up and might also be a potential problem for you: Potential Problem: Not having an official job title or job description. The Negative Effect: No one knows what you do or what they can come to you for or count on you for. You yourself are not clear on your responsibilities and authority. Potential Problem: Not knowing exactly who you report to and who can give you assignments. The Negative Effect: You can end up with many ‘bosses’ and lots of people handing you work to do. You don’t know who to say “yes” to or who you can say “no” or “later” to. Potential Problem: No agreed upon goals, objectives, schedule, deadlines, or deliverables. The Negative Effect: You have no way to prioritize what you do and no criteria for judging success. You and your boss may not be in agreement as to goals and priorities. Potential Problem: Not having an official organization chart. The Negative Effect: It is hard to get a handle on the structure of the organization, who does what, and who reports to whom. The bottom line reality is that in loosely-structured organizations you often don’t know where you stand and may be shocked when you receive negative feedback even when you think you are doing fine. 2. Your position is not made clear to the rest of the internal team (your colleagues) or your clients Your boss has given you a promotion and a new title but has not officially announced either of these. You are happy with the title and the accompanying raise but notice that you are not able to be effective in your new job and are not sure what is going wrong. Potential Problem: Everyone still sees you in your old position. The Negative Effect: You are unable to accomplish your new goals because you don’t have the perceived responsibility or authority necessary to get buy-in and cooperation from others. No one knows what you have the authority to deal with and how seriously they should take you. Remember, it is not enough for YOU to know about your new position, or for you to be the one who tells everyone about your new role - you need people to hear it officially. 3. Mismatch between responsibility and authority You have been given a new position and a new title that has been officially announced and supported and have been clearly briefed about your responsibilities - including goals, deliverables and deadlines. However, you still feel ineffective. What is going on? Potential Problem: You have been given the responsibility without the necessary authority to carry out your responsibilities. For example you are told to develop the requirements for a new product but not given the authority to meet directly with customers. Or you are given a product to produce without control over the resources (e.g., budget and people) you need to get the job done. The Negative Effect: You find yourself failing or ‘begging’ for what you need instead of controlling the key factors that underpin your success. The bottom line in this situation: Make sure you have the necessary authority to accomplish the responsibilities you are given. 4. You are not clear on key aspects of the company culture If you are not paying attention, or don’t know what is important to pay attention to, you may miss key elements of the company culture that can put you at odds with the rest of the team or organization and get your viewed as an outsider. Here are three possible areas to look at:
5. You are not clear on how what you do fits in with the larger goals and objectives of the company You may be clear on the job you have been given to do and may even be taking on additional work thinking that you are making a great impression. But unfortunately, no one seems particularly excited about your contribution and you are not sure why. The Potential Problem: If you don’t understand the key vision, goals/objectives and priorities of the company and how they flow down from the top to drive priorities throughout the organization you may not notice that your job or your objectives are not aligned with what the company views as the critical bottom line. The Negative Effect: Your contribution may not be highly valued or rewarded. 6. You don’t recognize the common odd characters types at work Many companies contain ‘odd ducks’ – character types that can frustrate you and impede your progress. Here are two of the many you may encounter: Type 1: The consummate procrastinator These are the people who when they don’t want to do something – they just don’t do it. They are often very creative about setting up situations that provide them excuses for not doing what they should be doing. For example, they might get out of printing a report because they conveniently don’t have a printer in their office. Or they might put off distributing a key piece of information because their computer is “in the shop.” Or they might ignore a colleague who is floundering even though they have the expertise to provide the needed support because they are “working on a critical project that is sucking up all of their time.” You can’t understand why these slackers are not embarrassed by giving such lame excuses or by shirking their duties. Unfortunately they aren’t – and the hard fact is their work usually IS getting done - by you or some other conscientious person who can’t overlook the messes they create. Type 2: The person who always comes in at the last minute to “save the day” Have you even noticed how the people who get rewarded for stepping in at the last minute to ‘save the day’ are actually the same people who created the crisis they are responding to because of poor up-front planning? As annoying as it is, companies often reward such people – because planning is not as visible as ‘saving the day.’ No one sees the upfront problem but they laud the after-the-fact solution. 7. Moral mismatches Mismatches between your personal values and the values your company adheres to can be unsettling and sometimes downright threatening. In the worst case you may find yourself in a position of being asked to do something you think is unethical – which could lead to serious professional or legal consequences. In other cases you may find yourself disgusted as you watch others perpetrate behaviors your find to be unconscionable (e.g., employees taking four-hour lunches that get billed to the company; or vendors overbilling on one job to make up for what they feel they were shorted on a prior job). When significant mismatches exist often the only solution is to leave. 8. You are unaware of, or not in agreement with, stated requirements for job success Some companies have clear and widely communicated beliefs about what is required for certain jobs or promotions – even if such requirements seem unfounded or somewhat arbitrary. For example, a chemical company might require their project managers to have technical degrees, despite the fact that technical people often don’t make the best project managers. At other times the job/promotion requirements are not spoken of but can be observed if you take a careful look at the incumbents of the job you are seeking. If you are a 35 year old woman and all the incumbents in the job you want are currently cigar smoking men over 50 you may have a problem. At the very least, where the skills and experience you have do not match those that are expected in the company environment you are in, you are likely to encounter some barriers in your path. The Overall Bottom Line In most cases, the more you know about the nature of a problem that is bedeviling you in the workplace the easier time you will have fixing it. If you recognize that one of the above eight key environmental factors may be affecting your job performance or satisfaction you are half way there. Some of the above problems can be fixed by asking for something (e.g., a specific job title, an officially-announced job title, an organization chart, an opportunity to set mutual goals and priorities with your boss, or the appropriate authority to go with the responsibilities you have been given). Other times the problem you identify may be so systemic to the environment of the company it is not amenable to an easy fix. In these latter cases sometimes the only way out is to leave and find another more supporting environment at another company. The good news is that regardless of whether you can fix the problem from the inside or if you need to leave – by becoming away of the specific environmental factor or factors that are causing your problem you at least know in what direction to head to create a solution.
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