How to Deal with Difficult People, 6th Edition

08Putting a bomb under the lazy ones

He has his law degree and a furnished office. It’s just a question, now, of getting him out of bed.

Peter Arno

No one ever made a donkey go faster by hitting it with a stick. Well, maybe they did, but carrots do usually work better.

Why do people get lazy? Are they born idle? Probably not, but they can grow idle. We know work can be routine, monotonous, tedious and uninteresting. Employees who start out being diligent and productive can be hypnotized into inactivity, simply by the nature of what they are doing.

Re-engineer the task, change the approach, rotate the work and let the staff, if you can, have a big say in the working environment and the way they approach it.

Don’t be afraid to challenge lazy-bones: ...