Complacency!

Too often we would rather sit down and doze instead of getting up to face challenges or make the necessary change!

[koreanpress02-18 22:45]

There was something amiss about the company which I visited recently. From the exterior one would not know.  It looked like any modern building with all the trappings of the sophisticated facilities, intelligent lifts, high speed computer facilities, elegant office furnished with latest designed furniture and walls decorated with clear corporate vision and goals.  Even the employees were smartly dressed. However, what was obvious was the tremendous sense of complacency within the company which was what my client commissioned me to address. What is complacency?   Complacency is a sense of excessive satisfaction which prevents people from addressing the real issues that require change. The signs of complacency are vey telling. Here are some of them: ¡¤         People skirt around the real issues and address only the convenient ones ¡¤         They preach about change but do not see through till it yields the desired results ¡¤         Leaders  let people get away with poor performance ¡¤         Staff are not motivated to achieve more or take more responsibilities ¡¤         There is no consistent follow-up;  many progress reviews are ad hoc and crisis-driven The greatest waste of human resource is staff complacency.   Too often companies spend millions of dollars to educate, train and equip them will all the knowledge, skills and resources to enable them to perform.  Too much effort and time has been focused on getting people to be more competent.  The irony is that a lot of staffs know what to do but they do not do what they know. Yet little is done to eliminate complacency which is a productivity damper in organizations.   During these turbulent times beset by a Global Financial crisis, companies cannot afford to have a complacent workforce. Productivity is the key to staying cost effective and competitive.   Many companies like to believe that their human resource is their assets.  This can only be true if leaders find ways to eliminate complacency in their workforce and make them productive.   The following are some ways to help eliminate complacency in organizations.         Ascertain the Root Causes Of Problems In a downturn where sales start to plummet and profit heads South, it is crucial to ensure people take the heat.  Many will be lured by the escapism temptation and find an easy way out. They will address the symptoms and recommend some quick fixes. For example, when the demand goes down, competition becomes keener and customers have more bargaining power.  It is all too easy to succumb to reducing prices of products and services. It is more important to address how as a company, it can fundamentally help its customers overcome the tough times. It is better to find out what is truly ailing them and provide them what they value most.  For example, in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, more than ever, financial services companies have to do more with less and cut costs wherever they can.  Microsoft has developed a cost-effective solutions to help the ¡°customer¡¯s customers¡±.   Lloyds TSB Group, one of the United Kingdom's largest financial institutions, has made it quicker and easier for business decision makers to gain customer insight from data using a solution based on Microsoft business intelligence (BI) tools-at a cost approximately 80 percent less than the cost of competitive solutions. Reducing price will certainly lead to complacency. It obviates the need to improve. People will no longer explore ways to differentiate what they are providing or the services they are giving, besides price.  And that will certainly lead to deteriorating profits and zoom the company towards doom.  Engage Staff In Resolving The Real Issues The role of the leader is not to provide all the solutions to their staff. Enough damage has been done in school where teachers think for their students and feed them with all the right answers.  The more leaders get their people to think for themselves and come up with their right solutions, the less complacent they will become. This makes perfect sense as it is not possible for a leader to be aware of all the actual happenings in the operational details.  By engaging employees to participate and help the company address the real issues, they will also develop more commitment and a sense of belonging which by themselves have intrinsic motivation.  Such motivation is more meaningful and sustainable than just mere monetary rewards. Set High Standards Nothing breeds complacency faster than low goals and expectations.  Such low standards are often too well justified for a company¡¯s own good.   All too often leaders like to rationalize that the company is not doing too badly compared to many others.  Others rationalize they have done relatively well considering how far they have come.  Of course for some it is all too convenient to argue that given the tough challenges in the industry and the economy, the company is doing pretty well.   Michelangelo, the multi-talented Italian painter, architect, sculptor and poet said it best, ¡°The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark¡±.   For that will certainly drive us to become totally complacent.   Measure And Monitor Progress Regularly James, the supervisor of manufacturing firm learnt the hard way.  To build a ¡°more trusting environment¡±, he decided to get rid of the weekly output progress meeting and allow each individual to monitor their own progress. After two months the production output fell by 20%. Monitoring progress is not about not trusting others.  In fact, it has a positive psychology effect on people if it is done the right way. Without clear measurements and frequent monitoring of progress, complacency will begin to set in.  People will feel that what they do matter little as no one is paying attention. There is no motivation.  Soon most people will just do the bare minimum. According to Peter Drucker, the father of management, ¡°What gets measured, gets done¡±.   The tendency of the human behavior is doing what is inspected and not what is expected.  Hold People Accountable For The Results There is a magic in holding people accountable for results.  It conveys two very important messages. One, the belief in the person¡¯s ability. The other, the importance of the responsibility  the  person play.  To be effective,  this must be communicated in a positive, encouraging and confident manner.  It is not about telling people to do whatever they can and ¡° to try your best¡±.  It is about communicating to people that their results is  an important part of a  big ¡°jig saw puzzle¡±.  The success of the company depends on each one delivering the results that they are accountable. Only by each and everyone contributing their bits, can the whole ¡°picture¡±  be complete. Discipline And Penalize Non-Performers As a consultant, having worked with many companies, I noticed that most Asian managers are  poor disciplinarians.  They are better at playing the good guys  and delivering the great news. Discipline does not mean shouting and threatening people, although some managers seem to falsely believe that is the case. I once asked a manager why he screamed at one of his staff.  His rationale at justifying his behavior was most telling, ¡° Well, some people have to be shouted at, otherwise they just don¡¯t move¡±.   I explained to him that this was not just the dinosaur approach but also a very unprofessional and unacceptable  in the modern workplace.  There is a better way.  One simply has  to be firm and fair in disciplining and penalizing  non-performers.  Firm in that one is unwavering and not give in to sob stories. Fair in the sense they are provided the training, resources, help and ample notices about their lack of performance.  In most cases, people are penalized not because they do not know how to do something but more because of not wanting to do  or  deliberating doing the wrong thing.  Reward And Recognise  Based On Performance Human beings are just too predictable, if one understands the psychology of people. People have needs to be met.  Not just basic needs of food, clothing and shelter.  Yes, man does not live on bread alone.  They have other needs to be nourished emotionally, psychologically  and intellectually.  People want to feel important.  They want to be recognized for what they have done.  They want to belong.  They are driven by ego and a need to achieve.  Ultimately,  they want a sense of fairness in terms of recognition and reward for the effort they have put in .  If humans are so predictable, how is it that leaders find it so hard to motivate and inspire people to perform.   The truth is that issue of motivating people has been complicated by company politics, human flaws in succumbing to favoritism, conflict of interests, self-driven agenda and other motivation dampening behaviors in organizations.  To motivate people to continue to perform, leaders simply have to reward and recognize people fairly based on performance.    Dr Victor SL Tan is the CEO and principal consultant of KL Strategic Change Consulting Group. For more information, please call 03-90741129 or email to: victorsltan@klscc.com.

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