Territorialism Over Teamwork Results In Boredom and Lost Value

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Summary: In every instance where employees feel bored on the job, the corporate culture supports territorialism over teamwork.

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Before getting into the topic of boredom at work, a brief note to my regular readers...

If you've noticed a delay between articles, I have a good excuse -- I'm working on a huge project for this blog. It will be available very soon.

The topic will be how unemployed mid-level professionals should go about finding their next career in a troubled economy. I'm currently culling the advice of some of the top experts in the employment game. Stay tuned.

Now, on to the not-so-boring topic of boredom at work.

One of my professional specialties is assessing corporate cultures, diagnosing business problems based on cultural indicators, and aligning cultures to support strategic priorities.

I’ll make a bold statement here, but one that will stand up to scrutiny - with the added benefit of feeling like common sense!

In every instance where employees feel bored on the job, the corporate culture supports territorialism over teamwork.

It is a rare employee who truly doesn’t want to be productive. Employees who don’t seem to want to be productive generally are either jaded or unaware of how they can be productive.

People don’t want to be bored. Given the opportunity, they’ll be productive to their fullest ability.

The problem comes in when Jane has some down time and wants to contribute in a way that is outside her regular duties or job description. She’ll look for and find those opportunities as long as there won’t be backlash for doing so, and the company will be much better off for it.

A culture of Territorialism tells Jane that if she steps outside her defined role, she’ll be invading someone else’s turf and she’ll be punished for it. Rather than face that risk, Jane will just go on being bored and less productive than she otherwise would be. In fact, she may not allow herself to be bored at all -- if she's resourceful she's more likely to do personal emails, write her own blog, spruce up her MySpace account, plan her next house, or research a topic she's interested in all on your company's dime. Wouldn't you rather pay her to put that energy into your company's success?

The attitude of Territorialism Over Teamwork pervades many, many businesses that could be infinitely more successful if they would methodically replace territorialism with collaboration and teamwork.

Seem impossible? It isn’t. It can be and has been done.

Your Action Items:

• Read Marilyn Gardner's article in the Christian Science Monitor, "Bored At Work? Read This," which quotes part of the article you are now reading.

• Sound off on this topic in the comments section below.

• Contact me. to discuss maximizing employees, eliminating boredom, developing productive employees, or assessing your corporate culture.

Comments

[Brooke]

Great post. I can relate on many levels, having been given the chance to actually ask for more work and not feel threatened by doing so and also having been on the other side where I feared what would happen if I asked for more.

I'm looking forward to your post on "how unemployed mid-level professionals should go about finding their next career in a troubled economy".