It’s Not (Necessarily) That Your Co-Workers Are Lazy …
People love to get on the cross and bitch about their lazy co-workers, implying in the process how relevant and important they are. None of this should be a surprise. The quest for relevance at work is extremely important, because work is deeply tied to self-worth for many people. (By the way, that’s an incredibly dangerous thing to link your self-worth to, because work ain’t designed to love you back.)
Plus, being busy makes us feel high, and that’s fun. So let’s all hop on the cross, talk about how much we do, and blast a few lazy co-workers along the way.
But let’s try a different idea now. What if these cubicle jockeys are not lazy pieces of trash but rather, the work is designed all wrong?
Huh?
I’m going to start with an article from Harvard Business Review about managerial storytelling. This article is interesting, but largely bullshit. If you choose to read it, there’s a story about Shake Shack, ketchup, and a two-year-old. It’s kind of odd. I won’t spoil it.
The author chooses to link a research paper called “The neural network of the basal ganglia as revealed by the study of synaptic connections of identified neurones.” Nice! Egghead academics…
