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Whose job is it? Everybody's and Nobody's job


A couple of weeks ago there was a heat wave in the Northeast. This heat wave brought two straight weeks of 100 degree heat and humidity. One day in the midst of this, I decided that I needed a break from the air conditioning and ventured out for lunch. I visited a fast-food sandwich chain (that shall remain nameless) where you can create your own sub sandwich with a choice of bread, meat, and vegetable toppings.  Upon arriving, I noticed right away that it was hot when I walked in. Then I noticed the big line and the sandwich makers looking stressed out. I waited on the line and listened to all the issues. In front of me there was an owner of a landscaping company that was taking his crew out to lunch. The men in this crew were all hot sweaty and hungry. There was no relief from the brutal heat in this restaurant. After all the men got their sandwiches, I heard from the worker at the cash register that not only was the air conditioning broken, but so was the ice machine for the soda. As a result they were serving only bottled soda, not fountain. When the owner of the company got to the register to pay, he learned there were not any napkins. The worker said that the food service company did not deliver them. The owner of the landscaping company said, “I can understand the air conditioning, I can understand the ice machine, but there is not any excuse for not having napkins. If I were you, I would go across the street {to the discount store} and buy some.” The response of the worker, “I do not have the authorization to do that.”  So if it was not his job, whose job is it? Who has the authorization to do that?

 
This reminds me of issues that are faced every day in all kinds of workplaces. People everywhere deciding it is not their job to do something so small that could make a huge difference. This is true in the sandwich shop and in our workforce development offices. Every employer has some kind of task that needs to get done for the quality of life and efficiency of work, but is not in anyone’s job description. It might be buying napkins, cleaning the office refrigerator, sweeping the floor, organizing the files, or making copies of the required forms. So who should be doing these tasks? They belong to everyone and no one.

 
What this means is that everyone needs to make a personal decision. Are you going to walk away from a messy pile of papers or take a moment to file them where they belong? Are you going to decide that people who eat at your restaurant need napkins, even when not explicitly told to buy some?


As workforce development this is also an area that we can counsel our job seekers on. This falls into the taking initiative category. How do you talk to your job seekers about taking initiative? A good approach would be scenario based. Giving examples of scenarios, like the napkins at the sandwich shop is one way to approach this. While giving these scenarios, I would also suggest discussing the “what could have happened.” Are their repercussions on actions taken? Positive and negative impacts on actions or inactions should be discussed, so that job seekers can make better choices and for some take initiative in future situations when they did not in the past.


PONDERING POINTS


§  Are there opportunities to show initiative in your work place? What jobs in your company or organization do not belong to one specific person, but rather everyone as a group?

§  Have you ever counseled job seekers on taking initiative?


§  Do you think that taking initiative could be considered scary for some job seekers? How can you work with job seekers to work past their fear?

 
I enjoy feedback and comments. Feel free to post a comment or send me an email at kcirincione@gmail.com. ~Karen Cirincione

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