A gentleman in a recent seminar brought up the question in the title. “Tell me more,” I asked him. He told me that he’s been disappointed about the number of times in the past year when the people he has hired turned out to be good at doing exactly what they were told.
“But when they’re finished,” he said, “they just sort of stand around. I tell them to look around for something to do, and they’ll say ‘Like what?’ Then I have to think up something for them to do. They’re always dependent on me.” I asked him if this was just about young people. “Oh, no,” he said. “Everybody seems to be doing it.”
As much as the older generations tend to complain about young workers not having the work ethic, critical thinking skills and situational awareness of veteran contributors, this is not necessarily the case. Everyone who reads this can think of at least one person their age who displays these characteristics as well.
It is becoming apparent that the average worker is becoming more dependent on external cues for doing their work rather than taking the initiative for independent action and making decisions on their own. We can blame this on menu-driven technology. We can blame it on the overwhelming amount of work these days that makes all of us look for ways to take a break rather than seek out new tasks. Or maybe it’s all the rules and regulations that seem to guide our every move in the workplace.Whatever the reason, this does not bode well for productivity, creativity, and profits going forward. So what to do?
Begin by assessing for situational awareness during the selection process. Consider your daily encounters. You may be enabling some of this behavior by your own words and actions. A young woman comes to you, for instance, and says, “I finished the job. What should I do?”
Rather than providing a task, ask her to think about what she thinks she should do. She might offer up an option or two. If she does, reinforce her by saying, “Good. Do one of those.” Or she might also give you a blank stare that says, “I don’t know. You tell me.”
Resist the temptation to simply assign something, no matter how much time it saves you. Take a minute or two right there and ask her to consider what might need to be done. Then get quiet and wait. She might follow your direction. She might get frustrated. She might look confused. No matter the reaction, coach her to think about the situation before relying on you.
Will this take a few minutes at first? Yes. But it will save time in the long run. In addition, it will foster more resourcefulness in the workplace. This, in turn, will reflect well on you. This behavior is not confined, of course, to those in the emerging generations. Some might argue that it is more prevalent with them. But we also have to take age and understandable inexperience into account. The bottom line is to meet each person where they are and foster their sense of situational awareness and confidence in making decisions without using the manager for a crutch.