Productivity vs Morale | a manager's dilemma
“I want to be a good boss, but there are one or two people who take advantage…”
”She takes the maximum vacation time and always has a reason to leave early. She follows the letter of the law, but not the spirit of it.”
“He said he couldn’t meet me in person because he weeds the garden on Fridays. I was gobsmacked.”
“I don’t want to recreate the poor work-life balance I had in my 20s, but I need to be able to count on my team to do what’s expected of them before they leave for the day.”
“I know I should delegate more, but one or two people on the team have confided that they already feel over-stretched at work. I’m not sure I’d be over-stretched in their position, but I don’t want to be the ‘bad cop’ here either.”
Over the past 6 months, I’ve been hearing the same genre of challenge from people in all sorts of different industries.
Some version of “A couple of people I work with are taking a bit more than they give - and I’m not sure how to handle it. It’s vital that everyone contributes, but work-life balance is also important and I am loath to push back on them.”
Let’s get into it.
Why is this happening?
Many reasons. The pandemic has forced a lot of people to reevaluate their relationship with work. We all remember “quiet quitting,” “the great resignation,” and the ongoing (perhaps understandable) reluctance of many to return full time to in-person work.
The latest generational shift in the workplace also has a bearing on this dynamic. But it would be unfair and unproductive to simply discount a whole generation and mumble “kids these days,” as we spend another hour at our desks. And more than a couple of the examples I shared are from more-experienced employees.
While it can be a headache to deal with, this phenomenon can also help you see and address challenges. As teams and companies grow, policies, feedback, and delegation become more systematized - precisely since the types of employees you attract are often different than in your start-up era.
How can we prioritize productivity without sacrificing work-life balance?
As with everything, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, consider the following:
What’s the scope of the challenge? Consider whether your whole team is struggling to navigate norms and boundaries or just one or two people.
If it’s a team-wide phenomenon, time to get clear on policies and perhaps have a reset meeting to communicate what’s expected and reasonable. Consider also how to socialize the culture you want to create on the team. Think about tying new norms to existing values, calling on an influential ally or two to help lead the change, and sharing examples of your own experience of boundary-setting.
If it’s just one or two people, consider whether the behavior is new (and perhaps a product of an organizational change or of something personal) or if it’s that person’s default setting. Whether it’s a new or established behavior, a feedback conversation - informal or otherwise - might help “reset” things and give you sense of why the person isn’t performing to the extent that they should be. (For all feedback conversations, be sure to listen more than you talk. Especially in this case.)
Revisit delegation. The more you see delegation as a tool to motivate and engage, the more successful you and your team will be. We like this approach, but experiment and find out what gets the best from each person on your team. Being clear about deadlines is important in the context of this article - but personalizing your approach and tying each challenge (as opposed to task) to what motivates the individual in question is likely to yield a better result.
Weigh high expectations vs good enough
We all know that perfect is often the enemy of the good. But in practice, it can be hard to recognize when a colleague (perhaps one we find a little irritating) is doing a perfectly good job, just not in the way we might do it ourselves.
Ask yourself, “Is this poor work or just not a carbon copy of what I would do in their shoes?” “What coaching/support can I give this person to get them to do it better next time?” (Note: taking the project back should be a last resort - and if you do have to do this, be sure to follow-up with forward looking feedback on how to improve things in future. Otherwise, congrats on gaining a longer to-do list and a demotivated employee.)
Especially if the challenge extends to more than one person, think about “prevention rather than cure”.
Consider how you talk about the team in the hiring and onboarding process.
Lay the groundwork early for the culture and atmosphere you’re seeing to cultivate. If you have a meaningful set of team values, use them. Talk about them. Share which are “realized” vs aspirational.
Be honest about what you expect - try not to sugarcoat things then wonder why people are taken aback by a different reality on the ground
Encourage new hires (and perhaps even candidates) to speak with existing team members who model the values you want to see more of.
This challenge usually isn’t a straightforward one to address. Talk to use to parse out your options, work with a coach, or set up a team offsite or workshop.
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Ellie Hearne is an expert in strategy and culture and founder of Pencil or Ink. She has worked with dozens of industry-leading companies, one or two government agencies, and a handful of non-profits. She teaches part-time on the Oxford Strategic Innovation Program and is Treasurer of the University of St Andrews American Foundation. Ellie has been quoted in The New York Times and the Irish Times on workplace communications and in Business Insider and Nasdaq on entrepreneurship. She is also a parent, a dog person, and a half-hearted runner.