Impacts of Complacency

Complacency kills is the most common statement we hear today.

If you get used to where you are working at and for, complacency gets the best of us, unless there is a motivation factor that keeps us around. We know many people that work at jobs just because of the bonus structure that they receive every year. That is enough motivation for them and eliminates their complacency.

However, we also know people that have been in jobs for 25 years but have been doing the same job every year for 25 years, giving them 1 year of experience! They may not be hit with complacency and truly love their job.

The point of this post is not to pick on people and what they do for a living, but what to do about complacency and how it impacts the minds and work habits of people.

The Negative and Positive Impacts of Complacency

We have witnessed complacency claim the lives of many staff and the unfortunate thing for a lot of business is that there was a way to correct the issue long before people became complacent.

Boredom typically leads to complacency.

What are some of the negative impacts of complacency;

You are bored with what you do and not looking to do your best
You have stopped learning
Opportunities pass you by
You have given up on networking
You have isolated yourself from the culture
When you speak, it is always negative, and people have distanced themselves from you

The Positive Impacts of complacency are basically the opposite of the negative and should be directing you towards a change in every aspect of your job function;

You understand something is wrong and make the change to do better
You start looking for a new job
You start improving your own self-development
You start networking again

Altogether, complacency can suck the work-life out of you and those around you. Once this occurs, you begin to procrastinate on job functions.

Procrastination at Work

Now that we have stepped beyond complacency, people will begin to procrastinate.

In short, people start delaying job tasks because they are not motivated to complete them. This can lead to warnings and termination of a job if the issue goes on for too long.

Typically, with procrastination, we don’t want to do something because we are fearful of what lies ahead with that task. It may be a negative impact on the task, so you figure if you can delay it, that it will go away when typically, it causes more negative impacts.

Here are some ideas to get beyond procrastination;

Stay off social media and occupy yourself with work function!
Clean up your email, because we all know it’s a mess!
Tackle the most important tasks first thing in the morning.
Reward yourself at lunchtime for tackling the important tasks first
Start picking off the small tasks in the afternoon as you’re getting ready to end the day.

You must keep yourself occupied and continually looking for the next step to avoid complacency and procrastination.

If work is not providing the career stimulation you need, dive into some online learning.

Keep moving forward!

How Leadership Impacts

With both complacency and procrastination, and many other aspects to a job, leadership needs to take accountability for these as well. Leaders should be able to see the traits of both and address them immediately. Often a lot of leaders were put in positions of power without the proper training and mentoring, so this may come as a difficult solution to some leaders.

But you, as a leader, need to be aware of the signs. Some are;

Staff start to distance themselves from job functions
Staff do not communicate in meetings
Internet usage is significantly higher than in most months
Job tasks are delayed
Staff are starting later or leaving earlier than usual.

These are just some examples, but you understand the point. Look for dis-association from the group and learn how to correct and talk about the behaviour. If you are a leader that just ignores it and hope it corrects itself, then you are part of the problem.

Keep communication at an all-time high
Invite and ensure that all staff members are part of during work hour functions
Encourage and support the wishes of the staff.

All these topics impact business daily, so it is up to owners and leaders to understand what is going on and make the corrections as needed. Business never runs smoothly, and the way people want it to, so stay aware and informed.

If you or anyone at your business want to discuss this more, please reach out to our team of Business management consultants at Future To Now Consulting to talk about it more.