Recognizing and Combatting Complacency in the Workplace

Complacency is all around us, but it (and the problems it brings) can be especially noticeable in the workplace.

If people have stopped going the extra mile and if they seem totally content with the status quo, their complacency could be hurting your organization. The good news is that complacency often comes after some success, and people feel comfortable and confident enough to stop trying so hard. The bad news is that it can keep you from being successful in the future because people stop aiming for bigger, better things.

Don’t let that happen. Battle complacency in your workplace. Here are some of the signs so you know what to look for in others and also in yourself.

Overall Disengagement

Complacent employees tend to retract from their coworkers and managers. There will be less participation in meetings or daily conversations. If employees seem like their head isn’t in it some days and you notice that they are working less hours, it might be a warning sign. 

Complacent employees don’t have their heads and hearts in their jobs. It’s like they’ve lost the interest and excitement.

Less Initiative and Risk Taking

Motivated employees will take initiative to make changes and take on new responsibilities. Complacent employees do the opposite. They avoid any new tasks or assignments when possible and don’t sign up for anything risky. It’s like they don’t want any additional attention on them. 

Loss of Creativity

If employees stop thinking about and coming up with new creative ideas, it’s a sign of complacency. You want a team that drives improvement for the team and for each individual member. In meetings and group calls, you want new ideas to bounce around. Having team members that don’t seem to care or don’t have anything new to offer can impact the entire dynamic in a negative way. 

Shortcuts Taken

Especially in workplaces with a strong safety culture, taking shortcuts can be detrimental. Complacent team members take the easy route and sometimes even skip over steps while working either intentionally or because they weren’t paying close attention. This can lead to unsafe acts to happen within the workplace.

In addition to safety, it can negatively impact a company in many other ways. Taking shortcuts with anything legal can be a big nightmare. There can be issues with customer service results or function of services and products sold.

Uninterested in the Future

Most employees have a clear goal for their next career move. Maybe it’s working toward a promotion and acquiring the necessary skill-sets to do that or maybe it’s just mastering a certain part of their role to be the best. Complacent team members will lack interest in the next steps. It doesn’t appear that they are working towards anything specific.

Combatting complacency and keeping your team engaged and interested is a continuous challenge, and we all know that employee engagement doesn’t just happen by accident. But it’s not all bad news, either. There are effective ways to intentionally foster a workplace where employees care about their jobs, even when the tasks themselves aren’t overly stimulating. Here are 5 ways to combat complacency in the workplace.

Share the mission.

Remind employees of the company’s purpose and goals so they feel connected to the larger mission and see how their behaviors can have an impact on customers. 

Change Up Routines

Complacency can happen in situations where there are repetitive work and boredom. If you have lots of roles with repetitive tasks, get creative about how to switch things up. Invite the team to offer suggestions for automation of certain parts or ways to make the process better.

Offer Continued Education and Training

Another way to keep employees engaged is to offer opportunities to learn.

There are so many different forms of continuing education that employees can participate in. Some education is mandatory to stay informed on any changes within specific industries. As regulations and technology changes, employees may need to take part in classes to learn about the differences and how it impacts their part of the process.

Education doesn’t always have to be formal classwork. Many companies offering mentoring or job swap opportunities to help employees learn and understand other roles within the organization. This promotes a sense of teamwork and helps highlight how different roles impact each other. It also gives employees ideas of other areas they might like to explore a career path in within the organization.

Publish Results Publicly

Everybody is familiar with scoreboards. Choose different metrics to post regularly with a results ranked for everyone to see. By switching up the different metrics, people are motivated to work hard and fight to reach the top of the list. The rankings can be shared in meetings, posted within the office or even shared on a virtual platform like Slack.

Having results visible to the team can inspire people to fight their way up the list or fight to stay at the top if they are there. Creating a little friendly competition keeps employees on their toes while at work.

Adapt and Learn

Dealing with change can be difficult, but it’s a necessary part of life. As things grow and change, you should be constantly working to adapt and learn new ways to accomplish your goals. It’s a good way to continue to challenge your mind and stay engaged.

Complacency is a danger to many organizations. It can destroy a organization’s success. Leaders need to keep employees energized so that they can provide the best possible service to their customers, whether they are coming to you for the first time or the 10th.

Lean Quote: What Employees Want From a Leader

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person — not just an employee — are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability."   —  Anne M. Mulcahy

Employees naturally gauge their connection and engagement with an organization through their local relationships and environments. And no one has a greater influence on those day-to-day interactions, processes, and operations than the managers on the ground with them.

Good managers build personalized relationships and connections with their employees, leveraging individual strengths to empower and motivate their people where they are.

Fortunately, leadership is a learned skill and you can train your current management to better understand and address their employees’ needs. To do this, you first need to know what your employees want.

A survey of 500 U.S. employees-published in the book "What People Want," by Terry Bacon-reveals what matters most to employees.

9 Things Employees Need

1. Honesty. 90% say they want honesty and integrity from their manager. Lies and secrets are the biggest killers to credibility.

2. Fairness. 89% want their manager to be fair and to hold all employees accountable to the same standards.

3. Trust. More than 86% want to trust-and be trusted by-their manager.

4. Respect. 84% want to respect-and be respected by-their manager.

5. Dependability. 81% say they want to be able to count on their manager when needed.

6. Collaboration. 77% want to be a part of their manager's team and be asked to contribute ideas and solutions. Shutting employees out will shut them up-and send them shipping out.

7. Genuineness. 76% want their manager to be a genuine person. Employees sometimes spend more time with their boss than with their families-they don't want a phony.

8. Appreciation. 74% want their manager to appreciate them for who they are and what they do. When was the last time you handed out a "Thank you!" or "Great job!" to employees?

9. Responsiveness. 74% want their manager to listen, understand and respond. Be a sponge, not a brick wall.

Bottom line: These traits are important to understand, but they don't apply to every employee. That's why it's best for managers to understand what each individual employee craves and then try to fulfill those needs. In the end, more satisfied employees stick around longer, are more loyal, do better work and make a manager's job much easier.

Managers Play a Crucial Role in Employee Engagement

If you’re a leader looking to improve employee engagement and performance at your organization, it pays to spend time working with the people who can deliver more impact than any other—managers.

Middle managers play a key role in employee engagement, creating a respectful and trusting relationship with their direct reports, communicating company values and setting expectations for the day-to-day business of any organization.

The relationship between an employee and their manager is one of the top drivers of employee engagement and leading indicators of employee turnover. When that relationship is strained, it can create a disconnect between an individual and their motivation to do their best work. When a manager is leading effectively, their team members are much more likely to be engaged.

But middle managers need to be empowered by being given larger responsibilities, trained for their expanded roles and more involved in strategic decisions. If an organization's executives and HR professionals want to hold managers accountable for the engagement levels, they should:

Make sure that managers and employees have the tools to do their jobs correctly.

Periodically assign managers larger, more exciting roles.

Give managers appropriate authority.

Accelerate leadership development efforts.

Ask managers to convey the corporate mission and vision and to help transform the organization.

In fact, research shows higher manager capability increases the likelihood of both employee engagement and performance. And that, in turn, supports bottom-line results. Organizations that see highly engaged, strong performers are almost twice as likely to report growth in revenue and profitability compared to those with low performance and engagement.

Bringing managers into the fold and giving them ownership over engagement initiatives can be hugely beneficial and make transformation happen faster. After all, managers know the day-to-day challenges of employees best, and the organization can only win when teams are firing on all cylinders.

Invite managers to partner with your leadership team to determine ideal employee engagement outcomes. Then, give them the space and autonomy they need to come up with creative solutions to achieve those goals. Let them take ownership of how changes are implemented and how those changes are communicated to employees.

The truth is, a frontline manager can be an executive’s greatest ally in the war against lackluster employee engagement. The challenge for business leaders is making sure their managers are set up for success.

Five Leadership Lessons From Halloween

Each day we are presented with experiences that can teach us key aspects of leadership. Halloween is today! Whether you’re going to a party or have kids you have to rope into their costumes, Halloween is a holiday you shouldn’t be sleeping on. Let’s take a moment to think about how this fall holiday can teach us valuable lessons in leadership.

Here are five that definitely come to mind:

1. Identity matters. One of the reasons people like Halloween is that they get to take on different identities. 

Lesson: While that might be fun, as a leader, your identity must be consistent and familiar. Masks might be fun on Halloween, but as a leader, you can’t wear one at work. To be most effective, you must be real, transparent and authentic.

2. Engagement matters. Halloween parties are fun for many people. Why? Because everyone is engaged! Everyone participates! Many people put a great deal of effort into their costumes, and they like to talk about how they come up with and executed their ideas. They enjoy the music, the games, the contests and just being around other people. 

Lesson: When people are engaged in an activity, they’ll put in the time and effort needed to succeed. What can you do to encourage your people to be as engaged in their work as they were when coming up with this year’s costume?

3. Creativity is important. Creativity is everywhere you look on Halloween. From house decorations to costumes and everything in between, people go all out to make the most of the holiday. Even the most straight-laced people will get a little wild on Halloween, and most people are really excited about the whole process. 

Lesson: When you give people an outlet and purpose for their creativity, they will be creative. Make sure you’re finding ways to allow people’s creativity to flourish. Your team and the organization will benefit big time if you do.

4. Treats over Tricks. When I was growing up, the neighborhood kids would egg houses that didn’t decorate for Halloween or give out good candy. Oddly enough, it didn’t make them any more likely to get into the spirit the next year.

Lesson: You’ll get further with treats than you will with tricks. That is really by way of saying that we must make sure we don’t neglect recognition.  We can’t hit our folks over the head with rules, regulations, and processes continuously and expect them to want to improve. We need to provide training and feedback while recognizing achievements along the way.

5. Fun matters. One of the reasons Halloween is one of the most popular adult holidays is that it gives people permission to just have fun. There isn’t any other “reason” for the holiday. It is just about fun. 

Lesson: Remember that people need to have fun sometimes to be productive the rest of the time.

Leaders need remain open to learning from all situations, people, and experiences. The leaders who inspire me understand leadership is not about costumes, tricks, and treats. There is a depth and meaning to leadership we each discover in our own way.

Lean Quote: A Lesson in Faith From Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."   —  H. P. Lovecraft

"On Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of his pumpkin patch and flies through the air with his bag of toys for all the children!"

Charlie Brown has been an iconic figure for over 60 years. In 1966, viewers across the country tuned in as “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” premiered on television.

If you’re not familiar with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” here is a brief summary: Instead of going trick-or-treating, Linus waits in excited anticipation in the "most sincere" pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin to arrive, but receives only disappointment. It doesn’t end any better for the other characters either. Sally misses "tricks-or-treats" and Charlie Brown is stuck with a bag full of rocks. So what lesson can we learn from this?

A group of optimistic young people are placing their faith in things that consistently disappoint them. That’s a relatable theme, isn’t it? But what keeps us coming back year after year when the show ends on such a low?

Charles M. Schulz, its creator, said it best: "Linus represents a special quality of hope and belief, against all odds." This, along with Charlie Brown’s unwavering ability to bounce back from failure, seems to resonate with young and old alike.

So in the spirit of Halloween this year, let’s take a self-inventory. Who might you be if you were one of the characters? Do you bounce back easily? Do you have unwavering hope?

Wherever you fit, perhaps a lesson from the Peanuts gang might do us all a bit of good.

Lean Roundup #161 – October 2022

A selection of highlighted blog posts from Lean bloggers from the month of October 2022.  You can also view the previous monthly Lean Roundups here.  

 

What Should Be Your Target OEE? – Christopher Roser explains OEE and what is a good target based on your business.

 

Lean, Chess, and Techno-Solutionism – Kevin Meyer discusses impact of technology on Lean and problem solving with the understanding that it is a tool not a solution itself.

 

Making Big Problems Into Little Problems – John Knotts shares some tools you can use to break down a problem.

 

Yokoten, Meta-cognition and Leadership – Pascal Dennis discusses best practice sharing within organizations.

 

Why FIFO: The Benefits of First In, First Out – Christopher Roser talks about the benefit of implementing FIFO in your production system.

 

Strategies to Improve Employee Engagement in the Workplace - Brittany Currier shares 5 strategies to improve employee engagement in your workplace.

 

Policy Deployment: Examples, Techniques, and Tools - Adam Darnell discusses all things policy deployment including 4 phases of implementation, key to success, and software to use.

 

The Connections Between Joy in Work and Habitual Excellence, via Value Capture – Mark Graban shares notes from a presentation that Rich Sheridan gave at the Michigan Lean Consortium annual conference in August.

 

Ask Art: How Important are Your Suppliers to Implementing Lean Production? – Art Byrne discusses the importance of your supply chain in Lean production.

 

6 Guidelines for Moving Toward a Lean Value Stream - Mike Rother and John Shook share advice on using value-stream mapping to continuously improve your value streams.

 

How Lean Thinking and Practices Helps Manage Rapid Growth - Michael Ballé and Nicolas Chartiers, cofounders of a successful digital startup share their experience navigating uncertainty.

 

Emotions on the Gemba - Michael Ballé and Fabian Sampayo discuss the role emotios play in a lean transformation.

 

Advancing Learning in a Lean Organization - Dan Prock explores our disposition to learning and the role of the sensei in enabling learning.

Lean Tips Edition #194 (#3121 - #3135)

For my Facebook fans you already know about this great feature. But for those of you that are not connected to A Lean Journey on Facebook or Twitter I post daily a feature I call Lean Tips.  It is meant to be advice, things I learned from experience, and some knowledge tidbits about Lean to help you along your journey.  Another great reason to like A Lean Journey on Facebook.

Click this link for A Lean Journey's Facebook Page Notes Feed.

Here is the next addition of tips from the Facebook page:

Lean Tip #3121 – Connect With Your Team Members.

Leading a group of people requires a mutual sense of trust and understanding between the leader and their team members. To achieve this, leaders should learn to connect.

To build a connection with each of your team members, focus on getting to know their personality, interests, strengths, weaknesses, hobbies and preferences. This can give you insight into their goals and motivations.

Successful leaders allow their teams to develop autonomy and add value according to their own personal strengths. Being able to recognize the strengths of individuals within their team, and allowing them to be responsible and accountable, not only increases employees’ confidence in themselves and their leader, but also increases their performance.

Lean Tip #3122 – Teach Employees Instead of Giving Orders.

An effective leader knows how to show others what is required, rather than simply telling them. If you are controlling people to do certain things in certain ways, you’re not going to get the level of engagement that you’re looking for. Coaching is about helping the people you lead recognize the choices they have in front of them. People will then take a great deal of ownership over the direction of the project.”

As opposed to simply barking orders at team members, good leaders should encourage growth by teaching. People wouldn’t grow if leaders never taught them anything. Leaders need to be teaching so they can grow new leaders to take their place.

Lean Tip #3123 – Be Open to New ideas.

Good leaders have the emotional intelligence to understand and accept that change is inevitable. Instead of trying to maintain a status quo just for the sake of consistency, embrace change and innovation. Be open to new ideas and alternative ways of thinking. Everyone brings a unique perspective to the table, and that is something to take advantage of, not discourage.

When solving a problem, encourage team members to provide their insights. When employees feel like they can openly bring new ideas to the table, true innovation, engagement and success can prevail.

Lean Tip #3124 – Learn How to Handle Failure

Failure is a part of life. How you handle it as a leader speaks volumes to your employees. Anger and finger pointing id often counterproductive. Instead, if you want to know how to be a great leader, explore with your team what went wrong and how things could have been done differently to ensure success. Take responsibility for any part you played in the missed goal. Together, identify things that can be improved going forward. And hold employees accountable as needed – with grace.

Lean Tip #3125 – Get Your Hands Dirty

Humility is the lubricant oil that minimizes friction within a team. And “getting your hands dirty” is one of the best ways of staying humble.

Lead by example.

Never ask an employee to do something you wouldn’t do yourself.

Serve people before asking for a favor, listen to other people’s ideas, be open-minded, and be willing to admit your mistakes.

People respect leaders who embrace humility.

Lean Tip #3126 – Get Closer to Your Customers

The answer to product market fit and true differentiation is almost always found within your existing or target customer base. Every step you take that gets you and your team closer to your customers is a leap forward in terms of market differentiation and competitive advantage. The best companies know their customers intimately, anticipate their needs and serve them in a personalized and relevant way.

Lean Tip #3127 – Change What You Can Change: Yourself

There is an old saying that too many cooks spoil the soup. Similarly, too many leaders during change can make everything confusing and fragmented. If you are not in a position to formally influence the change, instead of trying to create a leadership role, take the opportunity to change your own attitude, behaviors, and beliefs. You can do this by setting realistic goals for yourself and then eliciting feedback on them from peers, managers, and perhaps even customers. Remember that organizational change and personal change have strong similarities: You must clearly identify what you want to change, what the change looks like, and the specific steps and milestones for meeting them.

Lean Tip #3128 – Celebrate Successes and Failures

The best way of becoming more resilient as a company is getting into a habit of transparency, sharing and learning. Don’t forget to regularly involve the rest of the organization in what you are doing. Share and promote your progress internally regularly, ask for help from different departments and start growing the collaboration spirit.

Lean Tip #3129 – Become an Early Adopter and Ally for Change

Adapting early to change and being an ally for it is one of the simplest and most visible ways of leading change when you are not running the show. This entails wanting change to happen and working toward that goal as soon as you have a logical explanation for a particular alteration or modification.

The nice thing about being an ally and early adopter is that you aren’t seen as someone who is just giving facetime to the change; you are actually doing it and helping to spread enthusiasm among your team members.

Lean Tip #3130 – Help Other Employees Cope with Change

Even if you’re excited about change, not everyone will be. Some team members might find the going to be extremely tough; they might also feel confused, angry, or taken advantage of. You can help make the transition easier for them. First, be on the lookout for signals that someone needs help coping, like absenteeism, depressed or despondent behavior, or attacks on team members. You might want to intervene one-on-one or help steer a bickering session into a change session. You can also help others cope through active listening. Try to act as a sounding board, and make it your goal to help the other person reduce emotionality and increase rational discussion.

Lean Tip #3131 – Encourage Communication Among Your Peers

Remember, the sum of the parts is always greater than individual contribution levels added together. On a regular basis, ask yourself how you can help build a better organization by diffusing confusion, expediting the flow of information, or reaching out to others. Communication between peers and up through management helps make your job easier in a number of ways. It uncovers what is valuable to the business and what is not, it minimizes the amount of time required to achieve goals, and it maximizes productivity.

Lean Tip #3132 – Anticipate Pitfalls of Change.

With any change, there is going to be an adjustment period. There will also likely be negative aspects. It’s important to think through these potential pitfalls ahead of time and come up with ideas to combat them. Skipping this step could leave you unprepared once the initiative is already underway. There is no way to predict everything that could go wrong, but putting real thought into this ahead of time will save a lot of pain later.

Lean Tip #3133 – Choose Change Champions.

It’s important that the change is supported by people throughout all levels of the organization, and not just by those at the top. Even though the directive for any change typically comes from leadership, people are much more likely to buy in to a new initiative if others they work with are, too. For this reason, having champions at all levels who are engaged in the change process is key. Hold focus group meetings to get feedback on what may be difficult about the change and take this feedback seriously.

Lean Tip #3134 – Be Flexible with Change

Change requires high flexibility for it to successful. The sooner you learn how to adapt to any change the greater the chances that you will be successful. If you want to embrace change successfully look at the similarities and leverage the already existing knowledge and make plans to address the shortcoming that come with it. Also think in the same way on how you can appropriate adapt your skills to newly introduced environment.

Lean Tip #3135 – Stay Positive in Your Attitude and Actions

Change can be disruptive and frightening but with the right actions and attitude you will realize that there are far more opportunities that come with change. Learn how to shift your energy from denial and worries, by embracing the change before it kicks you out of the industry. The management also has to be patient when it is driving change in the organization, change should be a continuous process because a wide part of the organization is involved.