The Lazy ‘Dog’ in Workplace Dogma

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, noted a productivity paradox at Microsoft. Nadella: “85 percent of the managers think their employees are slacking off work, 85 percent of employees think they are working too hard and are burned out. And it's real data! So we have this paradox on how you can see these things in two different ways. And the only way around it to me… is you have got to use data. Dogma is not going to help.”

Nadella goes on to suggest that one of the ways to solve this would be for leaders to figure out how to have aligned goals. "As leaders, we have to learn how to bring clarity to what is the output that you'd like to see. What are the measures of it and then using that to see whether it is working or not and then create the norms.”

Our Belongify research and development reinforces Nadella’s point. Our “Clarify” element helps individuals/teams and the leader align on purpose and values. Too often people are busy but not productive because their output adds little value. In our “Differentiate” element we help the individual/teams and the leader align in metrics that really matter. The hard nosed premise is that no meaningful result ultimately ends with no job. The way to take the dog out of dogma is to do the alignment work. It’s not that hard, however it requires intentionality and focus.

It is wasteful to have leaders complaining about workers slacking off and employees feeling overworked when it’s opinion rather than data. A leader's job is to help individuals and the team focus on getting results that materially matter, including removing negative friction as much as possible. The team member’s job is to be sure their time is being applied to what really matters in measurable ways. When this alignment is working well, subjective judgment and political positioning subsides.

Additionally when leaders and team members know and see they are achieving results that really matter, other red herring issues like how much time people are putting in and where they work become less important. Why? Because the data tells the story.

Lazy leaders over rely on poor productivity surrogates like amount of time worked or time plugged in to the system. Even worse is clocking time at a workstation or cubicle. Unless work is purely transactional, this usually has little to do with results that matter. Still, many organizations and leaders are focusing much of the productivity discussion on work time and place. This perpetuates the productivity paradox Nadella refers to and the perception managers and employees have of each other. Phrases that are emotionally satisfying but often meaningless include: “I work so hard,” “he/she is the first in and last out,” “we worked 13 hours per day," “they are never around on Friday afternoon,” etc. Why should we give credence to these concepts? Are you getting meaningful results or not? Are you developing and improving? Are you making a difference? What does the data say? Don’t be the lazy “dog” in dogma.

Thing Big, Start Small, Act Now,

- Lorne

One Millennial View: 85 percent?! If that’s true, that suggests both leaders and employees have zero clue what’s truly going on. When you get to know who you hire, know who you’re working around, connect, clarify and achieve alignment from the get go, you’ll at least have your data - and you don’t have to guess what so-and-so is up to, because it’s discussed openly. I understand how people are conditioned to just go to work to get the bills paid, and that’s it, however if that’s the case, we have to stop pretending we care about improving employment, and admit we prefer the safety of staying in the dark, and the complaining that brings company to our misery.

- Garrett

Edited and published by Garrett Rubis

The Lazy ‘Dog’ in Workplace Dogma

Search Blog Posts:

Follow Us: