Adversity

It has been too long since I posted. We came into a major roll out with significant investment in training, follow up and review. In the process, I got sick and really burned the health line right to the edge. Took one day to rest in between emails and audits, then back at it. There are still residual effects 2 weeks later and probably another doctor visit coming. In the meantime, the deadlines were met and the only use of personal time was for sleeping and eating. Everything else was work, late at the office, at home at the kitchen table, early starts and long days. We have all been there at some point, whether it was personal dedication or tremendous loyalty or pure insanity. We overcome to achieve. The deadlines have been met, the team is perceived as put together and strong, and the utilitarian sacrifice is satisfied. It is doubtful that this looks like adversity, yet it can easily lead to a resentment or entitlement in our teams if we expect it frequently. We burn any loyalty we have garnered from our team, when we want a high level of sacrifice week after week after week. All the bosses out there need to keep their eyes open for the workaholics that drive their team for no good reason, the bad planners that leave their team working over to clean up all the time, and leaving a crew understaffed and putting in excessive hours to cover. This wasn't where I was or am, but it made me think about the teams under my care. The world is becoming more demanding and less humane in their expectations of others. Employees have issues they try to blame on the employer and the employer tries to blame their shortcomings on the employees. Adversity seems to bring out the bus driver in most folks, so watch out for the track marks. In the end, the conclusion that I came to is that leaders need to be aware of the demands and temper them for the team. Create breaks in the action so everyone can take a breather. Thanking and recognizing the team is nice, but it wears thin when they miss their child's events or plans with their spouse one time too many. Sometimes the best thing we can do is approve the paid time off request without batting an eye and help cover the work that week. This is yet another plea from a normally tough and demanding business professional to ensure that work is still a humane world.