Handling Life in a Dysfunctional Office
What may look very funny at Dunder Mifflin in “The Office” may not be so amusing in the real world. There are ways to deal with life in a less than perfect office without losing your mind though. A few suggestions:
Remain Focused – Focusing your energies on the job at hand rather than at what others around you are doing can provide an effective way of coping as well as possibly a way to advance out of the chaos. Keep working on that report even while your coworkers are headed out for their fifth smoke break of the day or are comparing notes about this weekend’s social plans. Act how you believe a professional should and your efforts will not go unnoticed.
Tune it Out – If you are in the fortunate position of being able to separate yourself and tune the office out a little take advantage of it. Have the radio on low volume at your desk or even wear an Ipod if such a thing is permitted. And if any of your coworkers comment that they think you are being rude just tell them that the music helps you concentrate.
Stay away from the Fray – maybe you should start looking at the goings on around your office as if it were a branch of Dunder Mifflin after all, and treat it like you would a TV show. Sit back as an observer and watch but do not be drawn in. Dysfunctional behavior at work increases because more and more like minded people join in. And never be tempted to return the fire of the office “ego monster” however much they bait you – this is exactly want they want you to do so do not give them the satisfaction.
Leave – In the end though in many cases the best course of action is just to move on. Some managers just never realize that they are losing all their good, talented employees by failing to control a dysfunctional work environment and however much you try to point it out you may never succeed. Save yourself the stress and find a different environment where the work ethic is more in line with your own.
Fighting Workplace Negativity
Over the last year or so a great many companies, large and small, have been forced to make some changes to keep their heads above water and ride out the recession. Unfortunately it often means inflicting a certain level of “pain” on employees. This can mean layoffs or reassigning duties, titles and tasks in order to try and keep the business on an even keel. Doing so can be a difficult balancing act for managers. The changes have to be made but you still need to keep the goodwill and loyalty of those staff that remain.
This is often where negative energy begins to creep into the work environment. It commonly displays itself in one of four ways:
- Sheer fear amongst employees that their jobs may be gone tomorrow, even this afternoon, and that fear becomes all they are focused upon.
- Employees feeling helpless because although they know how to do their jobs properly some of the resources they are used to have disappeared.
- As resources and staff are cut people on the team begin to fight with each over jobs not being done properly.
- People are unhappy in their jobs but feel they cannot leave because the poor economy limits their choices.
As a manager it is up to you to counteract this negativity so that the whole department/company/team stays together and pulls through the bad times in the best shape possible. Some tips:
