We've all felt like it. You know, that time when you have that job to do and you just can't face it, so you decide to do something else instead. End result, the job you had to do doesn't get done and there are repercussions!
This is a common scenario for 99.999% of people, whether in work life or personal life and the end result can vary hugely, from no consequence, to literally devastating. Imagine: you are at home and decide that you need to empty your rubbish (garbage) bin. Well, let's say you leave it 'til tomorrow, probably the worst that will happen is that it may smell a bit or you may miss a collection by the refuse collectors. Now let's say, you are in the armed forces and about to take your turn on watch in a hostile area but, you decide to grab five more minutes rest. Possible result is a whole different scenario! So what does this tell us? Well, first, we all like to procrastinate, even the most driven of people have times when they just don't feel like doing their tasks. Second, with procrastination comes consequences, so you have to ask yourself 'What happens if I don't do this now?' This is important as it helps you to put some perspective to the task and when you are coaching others is probably your key question to get them to ask themselves. So, the effect of procrastination can be huge or insignificant yet we still do it, why? Well, I'm not a psychologist but in my experience, it boils down to a few key factors. 1. Fear: the task is something we are scared of doing so we keep delaying e.g. you have a bad toothache but you're scared of the dentist so you don't go. I don't need to spell out the possible end result here. 2. Incompetence: We don't know how to carry out a task and we feel stupid/inadequate etc. asking for help so we just don't do it. I remember a colleague in an office where I once worked, who was found to have not done many items of work but he/she faked the office records to show they had been completed. End result was complaints, lost business and re-work by technical specialists to complete work where deadlines had passed. This situation would probably have not come to light when it did, except the department had an 'amnesty day' where work that had not been completed on time could be turned in without fear of sackings. Why did they have this day? because complaints about work that appeared to have not been carried out were increasing. 3. Laziness: we all feel lazy at times but some people just seem to be more prone to this than others. I don't intend to try to discuss genetics and the whole nature versus nurture debate but as a coach you need to be aware that people are not all the same and some people will naturally (or are used to) work harder than others. DON'T try to apply your own standards onto a coachee, rather, look for what the organisation expects and strive to help them achieve that. I knew a manager who was one of those 'driven' individuals that could be in the office for 12 hours every day, party every night, host dinner parties for the boss and play golf with business contacts at the weekend and STILL look like they had 8 hours sleep a night. The only problem was, they couldn't understand why the people in their department weren't all willing to stay at work until 10pm or arrive at 7.00am. Remember, the organisation will have a cultural standard and this is what you have to try to ensure is being achieved by your coachees. Fine, if they want to do more work, that's great but this blog is about procrastination, so I'm going to guess that working too hard is not the issue you're looking for information on! 4. Distractions: There you are working away and the phone rings, what do you do? Simple, 2 questions give you the answer: 1. How urgent is the work you're doing? 2. How urgent is the phone call? Before starting your days work, have an idea of priorities and factor in phone calls, requests for help, people 'popping by' and the boss arriving with 'work that had to be done yesterday'. I always tried to take a half hour at the start of the day to do my highest priority work first and ask a team member to cover the phone for me. Other distractions may be as simple as being hungry (simple answer to that as well), having a radio or tv in the office (tv's are fatal distractions unless you have an absolute business need for them). A key tip here is try to never handle the same piece of paper twice, in other words, work on an item until it's completed! As the Coach, what do I do to help avoid procrastination? There are many actions you can take (and apply to yourself if needed) to deal with procrastination. Set a standard by your own example that conforms with the organisations cultural norm. Ensure that coachees have goals and understand their work priorities. Ensure the coachee understands the consequences of their (lack of) action by asking them to describe what happens if the work is not completed. Where a coachee is procrastinating, seek to understand their reasoning (mindset) rather than judge and condem. Remove distractions but be aware of actions that may destroy morale. Carry out regular performance and task reviews with procrastinators. Ensure adequate training is in place so incompetence cannot be a factor. Look for ways to reward improvement, even if it's only an 'Employee if the month' award or similar. Ultimately be prepared to use your organisations disciplinary process where the coachee WILL not change. NB: This is different to CANNOT change in which case training or a realistic evaluation of what jobs they can do may be needed. Comments and experiences as ever are welcome Steve
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We all realise that the World economy is facing challenging times. Banks collapsing, housing markets stagnated or falling, the threat of a double dip recession and even entire countries possibly defaulting on their debts.
This kind of scenario is not unique in history, though it is without doubt that this particular recession is longer lasting and potentially more damaging than just about any other in living memory since it threatens the whole World rather than one or several countries. Historically we know that training and development of staff are often cut in such times since they may be regarded as less critical to the business. An alternative view is that without ongoing training and development of staff there are a number of costs that the company may have to pay and ultimately these costs must be weighed against the cost of carrying out the T&D. A few "hidden" costs: The cost of losing or demoralising staff: Staff may be tempted to move on if they feel their careers are not being advanced. T&D is a key factor in showing staff they are valued! This is somewhat counterbalanced by the argument that staff will not give up a safe job for potential rewards elsewhere during hard times, however, good staff will ALWAYS be in demand and retirement of staff is also a factor when facing a long term recession. The cost of diminishing quality: As staff training is ignored and experienced personnel move on, so there is a danger that quality standards in the company will be lowered. Lower quality directly relates to increased complaints and faulty products which take time and money to rectify. Loss of image is also extremely difficult to turnaround in the short to medium term. Customer confidence is very easily dented and slow to return in much the same way that a sports persons confidence is generally far easier to lower than to raise - one bad result even after a string of good results can have profound effects. Of course there are other hidden costs, but maybe before automatically pushing T&D aside in hard times, it's wort asking yourself - "What's the cost?" How big is your briefcase (if you still have one)?
When you think of taking work home, do you just fill your bag (ipad, usb stick or whatever) with files and documents because you "need" to and then never actually do anything with them at home or get home and work like a slave for hours? If you do either of these, try this simple technique: Say to yourself, "How much of this work could I do if I stayed here for an extra hour with no interruptions?" Sort that work out, put it to take home and when you get in and have de-stressed from your journey, greeted your family or whatever you need to do, take that one hour of work and do it for one hour ONLY! If it takes you longer than an hour then you either are underestimating your work or overestimating your ability - be realistic! One hour completed is far better than none or hours and hours, leaving you with no time for "play" and leading to resentment by family friends and yourself. Balance is key to happy work and play As with most things in life, you only get rewards when you put in effort. Many times I hear people complain that they aren't where they want to be in life and when I ask what they have done to get there they realise that their effort has not been sufficient!
Try to define some goals for yourself and write them down or tell someone about them as this helps us to stick to them. Then look at what you are doing or will do to achieve them. Often "routine" is something we all accept and eventually become comfortable with but "routine" rarely allows us to grow and develop. Having goals and working towards them is a routine breaker. Wrapping yourself in a comfortable routine is like grabbing an extra five minutes in bed in the morning. It feels nice at the time but ultimately leaves you with less time to achieve what you really want. Of course, life must be a balance though. The old saying "work hard, play hard" springs to mind and is as relevant today (maybe even more so) as ever. Make sure you and your coachees learn when ready to learn, don't force it. If you're tired or stressed you'll learn and retain less.
Coaching tip of the day: Question, question, question. Find the problem before the solution!
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AuthorI've been working in training and development for more than 30 years now including 28 coaching. Archives
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