Job Coaching:If You Are Working Too Hard----It Is Time To Take
Action
In the workplace it is commonly believed that hard work leads to
productivity, profitability and personal success. Unfortunately,
sometimes this does not happen because effort is being put into
doing the wrong things and not knowing how to do the right ones.
This is often referred to as " working harder but not smarter"
or "working too hard". It is difficult to recognize when we are
counter-productive. This is because the ways we used to succeed
in the past may not be getting the best results in the present.
When caught on an unrewarding treadmill, there is a tendency to
do more of the same instead of taking time to consider making
changes
Some of the signs of working too hard are: *Frequent
frustration and anger *Bad decisions *Procrastination
*Defensiveness and excuses *Frequent illness, physical aches and
pains *Results don't come fast enough *Family upsets *Not having
any fun
There are a number of reasons highly competent people overwork
and not succeed. The most common ones are:
* Focusing on tasks to be accomplished and not people involved *
Trying to control everyone and everything * Not communicating
effectively with authority and managing up * Not balancing the
need for detail with strategic priorities * Working in isolation
and refusing to ask for help * Not understanding what needs to
be prioritized to meet other expectations * Creating unnecessary
work * Not working from strengths
Coaching is a process to help people become more productive with
less effort. Causes of overwork, such as those fore-mentioned,
are first identified. Then strategies are put in place to make
changes. There are hundreds of strategies that include learning
to: simplify, improve communication skills, manage time, get
organized, delegate, build relationships, empower others, use
new technology; create a vision, target market, develop personal
foundation, etc. Strategies then are broken down into
accomplishable steps for which there is structure for
accountability and support when challenges occur.
For example, when employing a delegation strategy, some of the
action steps would be: getting comfortable with the idea of
needing help; learning to specifically communicate requests,
desired outcome, feedback and acknowledgement; learning to focus
on end result and not getting involved in day to day "nitty
gritty".
Improving productivity through working smarter requires a
commitment to make personal changes when faced with the
frustrations of working too hard. Coaching is a way that people
can be encouraged to learn new ways of approaching their jobs.
Apart from working with a professional coach, managers can act
as coaches, employees can be encouraged to coach each other, and
people can be taught to self-coach. What is most important is
making the commitment to making it easier - determining a
strategy - then taking consistent action toward making it happen.