Annoying behavior in the office – what can you do?
In the September issue of my newsletter I wrote an article about the cost of not being nice (see it here). The main gist was to get us all to think about what we may be doing to others and the impact to the overall business.
An article came out today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette called “Annoyances sap productivity“. This article does a nice job of giving ideas of what you can do when you are personally affected by someone’s behavior.
There are several points I agree with in the article:
Because we juggle more plates, our fuses do tend to be shorter. We need to recognize this in ourselves and find a release. Sometimes a quick walk around the building is enough to clear our head.
Many small business owners won’t address this issue. They know it is happening but try to ignore it. They don’t like conflict. An environment needs to be created where staff can air these issues. If a leading question is asked at a staff meeting like “Is there anything I can do to improve how things run in the office?” (Use yourself first.) Then, “Is there anything anyone else can do?” “How are we doing working together?” Ask these questions enough, follow through trying to address them, and the office may be better to work in.
Staff should try to work it out themselves first. That should be the first step. They should then be able to come to someone. Without an official Human Resources department, that often falls to the owner.
Being a small business is tough. We wear all different hats and without as many formal procedures, things can often get out of hand. On the flip side, it’s great to have more flexibility.
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