How to deal with unfocused colleaguesHow to deal with “unresponsive” colleagues?How can I deal with a very lazy co-worker?how to mix up and be friendly with colleagues?How to deal with a lying teammate / superiorHow do I deal with an HR manager who thinks I am not being a “teamworker”How to deal with interruptions?Sharing self-developed but untested tools or processes with colleaguesHow to deal with team leader who doesn't want to redesign?How to deal with colleagues only answering with “You know what I mean.”?How to deal with a non-communicative/avoidant workplace?
Why can Carol Danvers change her suit colours in the first place?
Why is so much work done on numerical verification of the Riemann Hypothesis?
Probability that THHT occurs in a sequence of 10 coin tosses
User Story breakdown - Technical Task + User Feature
creating a ":KeepCursor" command
Does the UK parliament need to pass secondary legislation to accept the Article 50 extension
Can I still be respawned if I die by falling off the map?
Limits and Infinite Integration by Parts
Does malloc reserve more space while allocating memory?
Fear of getting stuck on one programming language / technology that is not used in my country
Open a doc from terminal, but not by its name
Mimic lecturing on blackboard, facing audience
Does an advisor owe his/her student anything? Will an advisor keep a PhD student only out of pity?
Why did the EU agree to delay the Brexit deadline?
Is there a way to get `mathscr' with lower case letters in pdfLaTeX?
Why would a new[] expression ever invoke a destructor?
What is the evidence for the "tyranny of the majority problem" in a direct democracy context?
Yosemite Fire Rings - What to Expect?
Electoral considerations aside, what are potential benefits, for the US, of policy changes proposed by the tweet recognizing Golan annexation?
Can disgust be a key component of horror?
What is the highest possible scrabble score for placing a single tile
How to explain what's wrong with this application of the chain rule?
How can mimic phobia be cured?
Has any country ever had 2 former presidents in jail simultaneously?
How to deal with unfocused colleagues
How to deal with “unresponsive” colleagues?How can I deal with a very lazy co-worker?how to mix up and be friendly with colleagues?How to deal with a lying teammate / superiorHow do I deal with an HR manager who thinks I am not being a “teamworker”How to deal with interruptions?Sharing self-developed but untested tools or processes with colleaguesHow to deal with team leader who doesn't want to redesign?How to deal with colleagues only answering with “You know what I mean.”?How to deal with a non-communicative/avoidant workplace?
A close friend of mine has twice expressed frustration in working on teams that are not focused. She has already switched teams once but again finds herself in a situation where she wants to switch teams again.
The reason she considers them unfocused is because they "laugh and joke a lot during meetings", which the manager is fine with, along with a few unknown other reasons as to why they "don't take their work seriously".
The thing is, this opinion is entirely new to me and directly contrasts with my own personal opinion which is - life is short, enjoy work, have a laugh, and as long as the work gets done then there aren't any problems. Even if delivery is a little behind, it's better that than an unhappy team who eventually leaves.
My question revolves around some form of solution to the situation. I am concerned that she will keep jumping teams and ruining a potentially good thing. Is this an entirely opinion-based problem or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level? My opinion on this is that if the manager is fine with it, she should learn to be also. Is it realistic to expect more focus from the rest of the team?
Basically - what can I do to help her help herself?
communication teamwork
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
add a comment |
A close friend of mine has twice expressed frustration in working on teams that are not focused. She has already switched teams once but again finds herself in a situation where she wants to switch teams again.
The reason she considers them unfocused is because they "laugh and joke a lot during meetings", which the manager is fine with, along with a few unknown other reasons as to why they "don't take their work seriously".
The thing is, this opinion is entirely new to me and directly contrasts with my own personal opinion which is - life is short, enjoy work, have a laugh, and as long as the work gets done then there aren't any problems. Even if delivery is a little behind, it's better that than an unhappy team who eventually leaves.
My question revolves around some form of solution to the situation. I am concerned that she will keep jumping teams and ruining a potentially good thing. Is this an entirely opinion-based problem or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level? My opinion on this is that if the manager is fine with it, she should learn to be also. Is it realistic to expect more focus from the rest of the team?
Basically - what can I do to help her help herself?
communication teamwork
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
Sounds like this person is not a great fit for your company or team culture. So them leaving would actually be best.
– Trevor D
3 hours ago
1
Are they (the team) able to complete their tasks and meet their deadlines?
– sf02
3 hours ago
add a comment |
A close friend of mine has twice expressed frustration in working on teams that are not focused. She has already switched teams once but again finds herself in a situation where she wants to switch teams again.
The reason she considers them unfocused is because they "laugh and joke a lot during meetings", which the manager is fine with, along with a few unknown other reasons as to why they "don't take their work seriously".
The thing is, this opinion is entirely new to me and directly contrasts with my own personal opinion which is - life is short, enjoy work, have a laugh, and as long as the work gets done then there aren't any problems. Even if delivery is a little behind, it's better that than an unhappy team who eventually leaves.
My question revolves around some form of solution to the situation. I am concerned that she will keep jumping teams and ruining a potentially good thing. Is this an entirely opinion-based problem or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level? My opinion on this is that if the manager is fine with it, she should learn to be also. Is it realistic to expect more focus from the rest of the team?
Basically - what can I do to help her help herself?
communication teamwork
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
A close friend of mine has twice expressed frustration in working on teams that are not focused. She has already switched teams once but again finds herself in a situation where she wants to switch teams again.
The reason she considers them unfocused is because they "laugh and joke a lot during meetings", which the manager is fine with, along with a few unknown other reasons as to why they "don't take their work seriously".
The thing is, this opinion is entirely new to me and directly contrasts with my own personal opinion which is - life is short, enjoy work, have a laugh, and as long as the work gets done then there aren't any problems. Even if delivery is a little behind, it's better that than an unhappy team who eventually leaves.
My question revolves around some form of solution to the situation. I am concerned that she will keep jumping teams and ruining a potentially good thing. Is this an entirely opinion-based problem or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level? My opinion on this is that if the manager is fine with it, she should learn to be also. Is it realistic to expect more focus from the rest of the team?
Basically - what can I do to help her help herself?
communication teamwork
communication teamwork
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
edited 10 mins ago
Robbie Dee
2,1941815
2,1941815
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
asked 3 hours ago
JamesJames
2,00311420
2,00311420
Sounds like this person is not a great fit for your company or team culture. So them leaving would actually be best.
– Trevor D
3 hours ago
1
Are they (the team) able to complete their tasks and meet their deadlines?
– sf02
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Sounds like this person is not a great fit for your company or team culture. So them leaving would actually be best.
– Trevor D
3 hours ago
1
Are they (the team) able to complete their tasks and meet their deadlines?
– sf02
3 hours ago
Sounds like this person is not a great fit for your company or team culture. So them leaving would actually be best.
– Trevor D
3 hours ago
Sounds like this person is not a great fit for your company or team culture. So them leaving would actually be best.
– Trevor D
3 hours ago
1
1
Are they (the team) able to complete their tasks and meet their deadlines?
– sf02
3 hours ago
Are they (the team) able to complete their tasks and meet their deadlines?
– sf02
3 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Briefly:
Is this an entirely opinion-based problem
Yes
or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level
Also yes.
Unless you're in a very privileged position, you don't get to pick your team. The days of teams being cherry picked for a shopping list of so-called "desirable" personality traits are thankfully long gone, and it is accepted that different personalities make teams.
So with regards to your friend's problem and referencing my responses at the top of the answer:
Yes, this is an opinion based problem. There will be people who drift through their career seemingly doing very little work and always having a laugh and at the other extreme there will be work horses who work long hours and chat and socialise very little. Your friend is of the opinion that a team members should behave in a certain way which is perfectly understandable, but the KPI of any team is not necessarily behaviour, but results. Clearly the manager is not of the view that a close knit team having a laugh is affecting output otherwise something would be done about it.
If the team isn't performing then yes, something should absolutely be done at the managerial level, but this is a call for the manager. It is human nature to want team members to behave like us and hold the same values but it is somewhat naive IMHO to expect this to be the case in every team you come across.
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function()
var channelOptions =
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "423"
;
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function()
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled)
StackExchange.using("snippets", function()
createEditor();
);
else
createEditor();
);
function createEditor()
StackExchange.prepareEditor(
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader:
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
,
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
);
);
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f132327%2fhow-to-deal-with-unfocused-colleagues%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Briefly:
Is this an entirely opinion-based problem
Yes
or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level
Also yes.
Unless you're in a very privileged position, you don't get to pick your team. The days of teams being cherry picked for a shopping list of so-called "desirable" personality traits are thankfully long gone, and it is accepted that different personalities make teams.
So with regards to your friend's problem and referencing my responses at the top of the answer:
Yes, this is an opinion based problem. There will be people who drift through their career seemingly doing very little work and always having a laugh and at the other extreme there will be work horses who work long hours and chat and socialise very little. Your friend is of the opinion that a team members should behave in a certain way which is perfectly understandable, but the KPI of any team is not necessarily behaviour, but results. Clearly the manager is not of the view that a close knit team having a laugh is affecting output otherwise something would be done about it.
If the team isn't performing then yes, something should absolutely be done at the managerial level, but this is a call for the manager. It is human nature to want team members to behave like us and hold the same values but it is somewhat naive IMHO to expect this to be the case in every team you come across.
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
add a comment |
Briefly:
Is this an entirely opinion-based problem
Yes
or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level
Also yes.
Unless you're in a very privileged position, you don't get to pick your team. The days of teams being cherry picked for a shopping list of so-called "desirable" personality traits are thankfully long gone, and it is accepted that different personalities make teams.
So with regards to your friend's problem and referencing my responses at the top of the answer:
Yes, this is an opinion based problem. There will be people who drift through their career seemingly doing very little work and always having a laugh and at the other extreme there will be work horses who work long hours and chat and socialise very little. Your friend is of the opinion that a team members should behave in a certain way which is perfectly understandable, but the KPI of any team is not necessarily behaviour, but results. Clearly the manager is not of the view that a close knit team having a laugh is affecting output otherwise something would be done about it.
If the team isn't performing then yes, something should absolutely be done at the managerial level, but this is a call for the manager. It is human nature to want team members to behave like us and hold the same values but it is somewhat naive IMHO to expect this to be the case in every team you come across.
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
add a comment |
Briefly:
Is this an entirely opinion-based problem
Yes
or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level
Also yes.
Unless you're in a very privileged position, you don't get to pick your team. The days of teams being cherry picked for a shopping list of so-called "desirable" personality traits are thankfully long gone, and it is accepted that different personalities make teams.
So with regards to your friend's problem and referencing my responses at the top of the answer:
Yes, this is an opinion based problem. There will be people who drift through their career seemingly doing very little work and always having a laugh and at the other extreme there will be work horses who work long hours and chat and socialise very little. Your friend is of the opinion that a team members should behave in a certain way which is perfectly understandable, but the KPI of any team is not necessarily behaviour, but results. Clearly the manager is not of the view that a close knit team having a laugh is affecting output otherwise something would be done about it.
If the team isn't performing then yes, something should absolutely be done at the managerial level, but this is a call for the manager. It is human nature to want team members to behave like us and hold the same values but it is somewhat naive IMHO to expect this to be the case in every team you come across.
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
Briefly:
Is this an entirely opinion-based problem
Yes
or is this something that needs to be solved on a team level
Also yes.
Unless you're in a very privileged position, you don't get to pick your team. The days of teams being cherry picked for a shopping list of so-called "desirable" personality traits are thankfully long gone, and it is accepted that different personalities make teams.
So with regards to your friend's problem and referencing my responses at the top of the answer:
Yes, this is an opinion based problem. There will be people who drift through their career seemingly doing very little work and always having a laugh and at the other extreme there will be work horses who work long hours and chat and socialise very little. Your friend is of the opinion that a team members should behave in a certain way which is perfectly understandable, but the KPI of any team is not necessarily behaviour, but results. Clearly the manager is not of the view that a close knit team having a laugh is affecting output otherwise something would be done about it.
If the team isn't performing then yes, something should absolutely be done at the managerial level, but this is a call for the manager. It is human nature to want team members to behave like us and hold the same values but it is somewhat naive IMHO to expect this to be the case in every team you come across.
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
answered 11 mins ago
Robbie DeeRobbie Dee
2,1941815
2,1941815
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to The Workplace Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function ()
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fworkplace.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f132327%2fhow-to-deal-with-unfocused-colleagues%23new-answer', 'question_page');
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function ()
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
);
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Sounds like this person is not a great fit for your company or team culture. So them leaving would actually be best.
– Trevor D
3 hours ago
1
Are they (the team) able to complete their tasks and meet their deadlines?
– sf02
3 hours ago