Recently, I have found myself rather too frequently on the receiving end of other people’s lapses in work performance – both in relation to services I rely on for my business, and in relation to some complicated personal matters.
Mostly, they all boil down to versions of the same core problem; an inattention to detail that costs me (the consumer) varying degrees of time, money or, in certain cases, peace of mind. The ultimate cost, of course, is a loss of trust – and when you can no longer be certain of the quality of what you are paying for, continuing to pay for it inevitably shifts the balance of risk and benefit from the original calculation.
This is the dilemma I am now contemplating on a number of fronts – should I stick with what I know and adjust my expectations, or should I twist in expectation of improving my situation with a more reliable service?
The interesting thing is - annoying as these lapses in service have proven to be – the longer I mull over my dilemma, the more the phrase ‘no-one comes to work to do a bad job’ comes to my mind!
This was the title of a presentation I gave several years ago to an audience of health and social care providers, in which I encouraged attendees to explore ‘what happens in the space that lies between intention and outcome.’
My starting position was, and still is, that we are all neurologically wired to do a good job - it feels good when we do and we inevitably want to replicate that feeling - so the challenge for employers (and I include in that the self-employed) is to create a working environment in which employees (again I include the self-employed) can most easily, and consistently, perform their best work and, in doing so, maintain the trust of the consumer.
In the presentation, I shared the findings of a small survey that I had conducted with two different groups; care professionals and small business owners. In the survey, I wanted to explore whether ‘the desire to do a good job and the experience of not living up to expectations’ was experienced differently between the two groups. To be fair, the questions were a little tongue in cheek – of course everyone agreed that they come to work to do a good job, and certainly no-one confessed to coming to work to do a bad job! Nevertheless, the exercise did generate some interesting insights and distinctions to share with my audience on the day.
It is not my intention to rehash those findings in detail here. But, in mulling over whether to stick or twist with my troublesome service providers, I am reminded that there are multiple reasons why someone might end up missing details that ultimately cost me time, money, or peace of mind - some being more easily forgiveable than others. Below are just a few themes from the survey about the possible root causes for a respondent not delivering their best work.
Error of Judgement: assessing the situation wrongly in the first place such that subsequent actions are immediately off track.
Health & Well Being: physical or mental health needs - or lack of adjustment for those needs - meaning the person undertaking the task was under added strain at the time
Other People’s Performance: the task owner being reliant on other people who failed to deliver necessary information or products in sufficient time or of sufficient quality.
Blocks in the System: the task owner being unable to access the information, resources, or authorisations needed to complete the task to the required standard, or to move the task along.
Wrong Person: the person responsible not having the necessary time, knowledge or experience to undertake a task that rightly belongs to someone else
Contracting: not having sufficiently robust contracting in place at the beginning to ensure mutual understanding of what is required and what will be delivered
In the presentation, I shared my thoughts – based on years of experience leading and managing teams through complex operations – of what can help mitigate these challenges. But, for my present dilemma at least, it is not my role to identify or fix the root causes: my role as a service user is to weigh up the costs incurred by me as a result of the problems I have experienced and decide, in each situation, whether it is in my best interests to stick or twist. For the moment, the jury is still out!
In the meantime, if these reflections have resonated in any way and you would like to explore them further, or would like to hear more about my suggestions for mitigating some of the root causes that lie behind poor performance, I would love to hear from you. You can get in touch via email or, if you prefer, give me a ring on 07768 347706.
