Workplace Challenges
10 reasons you’re not getting your work doneAre you having trouble getting all your work done? Is there a project you can’t seem to find time to finish, or something you haven’t been able to get started? If it doesn’t seem you’ll ever be able to cross everything off your “to do” list, see if any of the following are keeping you from getting your work done. TAG and CATHERINE GOULET |
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 [ 2007-11-26 ] |
FabJob.com
1. You have too many distractions
According to a recent issue of BusinessWeek, “Workplace distractions cost U.S. business some $650 billion a year.” A 2007 survey by NFI Research found that 66% of senior executive and managers say email is one of the biggest distractions in the workplace, followed by the crisis of the day, and personal interruptions. Other workplace distractions include unexpected meetings, phone calls, web surfing, socializing, instant messages, and noise.
2. You don’t have the resources you need
Employees don’t always have the equipment they need to hit the ground running. Tag was once hired by an employer that took a month to supply the software she needed to do her job. Likewise, if your co-workers aren’t providing you with the data or assistance you need, your work may suffer. (But before you blame your co-workers for not helping, consider if they are facing challenges getting their own work done.)
3. You don’t know what you’re doing
Clayton Warholm, an expert on workplace miscommunication, says there are two main reasons employees may not know enough to do the job. Either the assignment wasn’t clearly stated by your employer (you don’t know what to do) or you haven’t been trained properly (you don’t know how to do it). In either case, chances are you’ll be floundering until you find out what and how to do the job.
4. You have too much work
Some people have so much work on their plates they couldn’t do everything on their “to do” list even if they worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This may happen in any job, but particularly in fields facing a drastic shortage of workers, such as we currently have with Canadian health care. The result is workers experiencing the frustration of trying their best to get everything done but simply not being able to do so.
5. You have poor time management skills
Workers with good time management skills do what’s most important, while those with poor time management skills work on what looks most fun or easy – then frantically try to catch up on important work that has become urgent because the fun and easy work was done first. Hint: work is rarely easy or fun if you end up missing deadlines and have to deal with an irate boss or customers.
6. You’re procrastinating
Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today? Actually, you may have a good reason – to avoid pain. When we procrastinate it’s often because we’re afraid the job or the outcome will be unpleasant. For example, if you’re afraid of failure and fear that no matter what you do it won’t be good enough, chances are you’ll avoid doing anything. If your own need for perfection is holding you back, realize most employers and clients would prefer that you do an imperfect but good job, rather than not do the job at all.
7. You feel undervalued
If you feel underpaid and unappreciated, chances are you won’t be working at 100%. Consciously or not, many employees try to “balance the scales” to ensure that what they give the employer is equal to what the employer gives them. According to Louis V. Imundo, author of The Effective Supervisor's Handbook, when the negatives of a job outweigh the positives, “employees may put less effort into their jobs, be absent more frequently, be careless, or psychologically withdraw from work while being physically present.”
8. Your company’s priorities keep changing
You are working on Project A when the boss says “drop everything and work on Project B.” When this happens it may feel you’re not getting any work done, but your employer may feel otherwise. As the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (the world’s most popular personality assessment) shows, some people are flexible and find it easy to change direction and exciting to start new projects, while others find it frustrating not to complete projects. If you’re the latter, and work in an industry where change is constant, you may want to consider a career change.
9. You’re burned out
According to the website of the American Psychological Association, burnout is emotional exhaustion resulting from overwhelming stress at work. It may be caused by a hostile work environment or fears about job security, but is often the result of long hours, stressful deadlines, high expectations, worrying about a project, or taking on more work than you can handle – in other words, working too hard. Because it can lead to serious conditions such as depression, you should seek professional help if you are experiencing burnout.
10. Your “reward” for completing the job will be more work
What happens if you consistently go the extra mile to do exceptional work ahead of schedule? Oddly enough (and apparently following the communist philosophy of “from each according to his ability”) many companies “reward” their hardest working employees with more work. So instead of time off, a bonus or another perk, productive employees are only given more work to do. If this happens in your company, it’s no wonder you’re not feeling motivated to work hard.
Tag and Catherine Goulet are founders of FabJob.com, a publisher of career guides offering step-by-step advice for breaking into a variety of dream careers. Visit www.FabJob.com to subscribe to their free career newsletter.
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