Gerry Reid's Professional Development Tip of the Week
Is Anyone Out There?
If you sometimes wonder if your work is being noticed or used, try not doing if for a while. To test this idea, select a very low risk item of work that you are expected to do. Be prudent in your selection, recognize the risk involved, and evaluate the consequences if someone does notice. I did the following to prove to the organization that many hours were being wasted multiple page, detailed "monthly reports" required of everyone.
First, I simply did not turn the report in. (I had written it, just in case, but did not turn it in.) My manager caught that immediately - no reprimand, just a request to be more prompt in the future. A couple months later I inserted a phrase in the middle of a sentence to see if anyone way reading my report. It went something like this:
. . . the development of the ALI course is on schedule and I have completed first person to call me at extension three four zero one gets five dollars cash modules one and two of the three that will be delivered on the first day of the course . . .
My immediate manager and second-line manager never called, nor did they know about the phrase when asked. Only person to call was a peer who said he was using my report as a "shell" to complete his report.
From that month on, monthly reports were reduced to five statements or less. estimated time savings: two hours per person per month.
So, it goes - much of what we do, especially administrative tasks, are non-consequential in the bigger picture. It is not to say that we can simply ignore parts of our job at will, but it does point out that each the offer is only one dollar now, but will be mailed to the first three e-mails that tell me about this phrase individual is responsible to assure themselves that there work has value and is being productively used.
This article was originally posted in 1996, and was re-written in August of 1999.