In my work I often come across frustration from coworkers that people are not doing what they are told or what they are expected to do. This can affect the whole team and often lead to others having to pick up the slack. When this happens it is often costly for the team as a whole when relations break down and motivation suffers. From a managerial standpoint the productivity will suffer along with the team breaking down. The cost is not always apparent at the time but slowly but surely it will come. A classic outcome is when you reach the stalemate argument “I’m not going to do that since no one else is doing it.”

A new perspective

Recently I came across the book “Lost at School” by Ross W. Green on a recommendation. It focuses on how children do what is expected of them if they are able to and the book contains a framework called Collaborative Proactive Solutions (CPS) with the purpose of identifying and working to overcome challenges when the child is not living up to expectations. Immediately I saw the parallel to my own situation and work and found it very enlightening. Now, it is not to say we are all children but similarities in behaviors are quite apparent and we are all human after all.

Are we so different?

I started to look differently into every situation where people were not doing the tasks they were expected to do. Now in the workplace the signs for detecting this is a bit different from the school environment but the general idea is the same. In most cases I realized that what was asked was outside their skill set and outside their comfort zone.

Where children may lack the means to express their inability the adults seem to connect their inability to shame and thus not wanting to showcase this. Rather than ask for help and coaching they try to avoid the task and give various reasons why it has not been done. This is not true for everyone but from my observations not uncommon either.

What can we do to help?

If you notice that a task is not being done when there, in your perspective, has been a good opportunity to do so. Rather than scold or get frustrated. Try to find out what the problem is through empathy and unbiased questions. If the conclusion is that there is a lack of a skill or the right conditions look to how you can achieve this together through training, coaching or other methods. Thus removing the problem as soon as possible. This will not solve all similar situations but may be a good starting point.

Good luck!