“Ouch!”
“Ouch!” Jodi yelped. Once again she’d bumped into the corner of the old metal filing cabinet. It poked her right at the same spot on her leg—every time. “UGH!” she exclaimed. This filing cabinet! Why doesn’t someone just move it?! It is clearly in the way of the path that everyone has to walk through.” She rubbed the spot on her leg knowing that the bruise that was finally healing from her last run-in with it was going to come back with a vengeance. Wincing, she thought, “Jon needs to do something about this thing”. She hobbled down the hall and knocked on Jon’s open office door.
“Hi,” she said somewhat dryly, as she stuck her head in. “Got a minute?” “Sure, what’s up?” Jon said, briefly glancing up from behind a stack of papers next to his desktop monitor, his laptop opened beside them. Jodi sighed, “I know you’ve got a lot going on, but do you think we could do something about that filing cabinet down the hall? Every time I walk past it, the metal corner pokes me in the leg. I’m going to have a permanent bruise. It just sticks out into the walkway too much.” Jon raised his eyebrows and smiled, “The filing cabinet attacked you?” “Basically, yes,” Jodi replied. We need to do something about it. One of these days this hobble will become a chronic limp if we don’t.", she said half-joking.
Before anyone could say anything else, Jack, the new intern, popped his head around the doorframe. “Hey, sorry to interrupt…but your door was open. Thought I’d let you know about the carpet at the entry doors. I tripped over that ripple again. Love the color, hate the tripping. I can’t injure my planting foot for frisbee golf, I’m team captain. Anyways, just thought I’d let you know. Oh, and since I’m here, Lindsey…I think that’s her name, mentioned that the ladies bathroom is out of hand soap and…something about the towel dispenser- can’t remember what. See you at the meeting at two.” Without another word, Jack was gone. Jodi, still leaning against the door frame, tilted her head to the side and said, “Looks like we have a variety of maintenance needs.” “Alright,” Jack said, beginning to rummage in his desk drawer. “I’ve got a maintenance form here; we can just turn it into Martin when he comes in tomorrow”.
“I appreciate Martin,” Jodi said. “He’s a really nice guy. But I’m wondering how he knows all that’s expected of him when he’s here. He isn’t just the maintenance man, right? Isn’t he a safety guy or something?”. “He’s our Facilities Director,” Jack replied, wondering where Jodi was going with this. “Ok, great!” Jodi said. “Facilities Director. That means he’s over the whole building, right? He can handle all these issues. But, we have some things we need now, and Martin is only here on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Today is Tuesday. How will we get hand soap in the ladies’ room today?” Jack could feel annoyance creeping in. This stuff was not a big deal and he was busy. “There’s probably some in the closet in the hall,” he said. Or maybe one at the front desk restroom area or the stock room. Check all those places, you’ll probably find some.”
Jodi wondered if Jack really thought that she should leave her workstation to find soap. Was she required to check the bathrooms and restock products if Martin wasn’t there? She was the Administrative Assistant, but this task expectation had never been discussed. She didn’t want to make this conversation about her, so she instead asked, “Is there a checklist of what Martin does when he comes in? Or does he have a job description that could help him know exactly what he’s supposed to check and stock? Jack looked blanky at Jodi for a moment, trying to decide how to respond. His first thought was that Martin didn’t report to Jodi, so she didn’t need to know the answers to these questions. His second thought was the one he shared, “Good thoughts here. I’ll look into it. In the meantime, Martin will be here tomorrow, and he can address that vicious filing cabinet. I’ve got to get back to this project though, so—I’ll see you at the team meeting at two. Thanks for stopping in.” Jodi turned and walked back to her desk, rubbing her bruised thigh. For now, she thought, “I’ll just bring my little hand sanitizer bottle to the restroom. We’ll figure this out tomorrow, I hope.”
You may have heard the phrase coined by U.S. Army General Gordon R. Sullivan, “Hope is not a strategy.” It’s a thought-provoking statement and it might feel a bit unfair. Hope brings such feelings of warmth and promise. It feels like it should be given more weight than what this statement suggests. In truth though, hope means very little when it comes down to what your team experiences each day in your organization. Have you heard any of these before?:
“I hope we make profit this month. I don’t want to sit through another meeting about missing profit targets.”
“I hope they’ve figured out a way to get these new people trained. I don’t have time to plan all that.”
“Let’s hope it gets completed on time.”
“I’m hopeful that things are clear now. We shouldn’t have any more issues.”
Knowing that hope is not a strategy, let’s take a closer look at the story above.
Jodi is injured at work and has requested help to prevent it from happening again. Her busy manager listens, kind of, but doesn’t view fixing it in the moment as his responsibility or priority. She’s not sure what else to do other than letting him know. Multiple maintenance issues have come up and it brings up the question of whether the very likeable, but very part time employee- Martin, knows what his priorities need to be when he’s there. It also brings up the question for the team of what they should do when he isn’t there. Reading through the story above one might wonder:
Does Martin have a job description with clear objectives that he can reference?
Does the team understand what they’re supposed to ask of Martin, when, and how?
Is information easily available to Martin to identify how to best prioritize projects? Does he know what steps are needed to accomplish the various tasks he might encounter? Afterall, the cost and process of getting replacement carpet is not quite the same as fixing a broken towel dispenser. How should he handle that?
Who handles maintenance issues when Martin isn’t there? Does that designated person know that’s their responsibility? Are they compensated for it or is it rolled up under that lovely phrase, “all other duties as assigned”.?
If it’s absorbed by a non-facilities/non-maintenance employee, with no additional compensation, how does the employee carrying out those functions feel about that expectation? Did they know that expecation when they signed on to their role?
These are just a handful of questions that come from the situation above. If asked, it is likely that 75% of managers would put these questions and the issues Jodi brought up as having a low priority in their day. Likely, they would kick the can down the road- just as Jon did. Just do your job and do it with a smile. Unfortunately, this action puts repeated stress on the team. It probably puts repeated stress on Martin. Confusion, inconsistency, and lack of feeling cared for results in on-going, unaddressed issues or questions for a team. These can reduce morale and impact performance.
So what’s the bottom line? Low morale and poor performance impact operational productivity, i.e. the bottom line.
If you’re a decision-maker or leader with your firm, don’t kick the can down the road- create clarity, consistency, and care today with clear job descriptions and expected results. Ensure that there is a solid, documented knowledge management system that indentifies who, what, when, where, and how for each role.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Have you ever experienced this type of issue at your organization? How was it remedied, or was it?
