Just Doing Their Jobs
Ignore It, and It Won't Go Away
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Kossoff commonly sees not-my-job resistance in the Silicon
Valley companies she works with. Often entrepreneurs ignore the
problem, especially if the not-my-jobber holds a position
that's seen as critical to the company's success. "The
entrepreneur thinks, 'We can't get this person to do more,
so we'll leave him alone,'" Kossoff says. When management decides to turn a blind eye on slackers,
however, it loses credibility with other employees, who may feel
the not-my-jobber is getting away with something. "It really
hurts retention," Stewart says. If you've got a not-my-jobber on staff, start a discussion
today. This is like any other performance problem, Topchik says,
and most of these employees will improve their attitudes after
talking it over. Those who don't usually leave on their own
after the game's up. A conversation will also help you adjust
individual job performance expectations so employees feel
encouraged to contribute in ways they wouldn't otherwise. Content Continues Below
At Hyland Software, communication has had an impact not only on
attitudes and morale, but on sales as well, which are expected to
reach about $30 million this year. "It's like night and
day," Hyland says. "It's so much better
now." Contact Sources
Originally published in the August 2001 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine
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