Mistake # 79: Create a sweat-shop environment

I signed off for someone to take vacation this past week. She is sales support and cranks getting quotes out and orders processed. However, all hell broke out. Someone (from another department) even recommended me calling her back from her vacation to help the overloaded staff.

What?! Did I hear that right? We’re not curing cancer, doing brain surgery, or landing men on the moon. We are selling products and processing orders for those products. Yes, it was chaos. Yes, it was not good timing. But when is timing ever great?

I realize that, as a manager, I need to focus on work flow, when people should, and should not, take vacations. I also realize that I have final authority to deny vacations at any point in time.

But even I had to be out that week (taking my son to move into his dorm as a first year college freshman); and another sales manager had to take her mother for testing and needed to be out most of one day. Further, the President of the company was out for two days at the end of the week to fly to a family wedding on the east coast; and the CEO was out for two weeks during this time (after being back only one week in the office after his vacation) for a family wedding on the west coast, traveling with his family, and seeing the California sights.

So I it really wasn’t necessary to even consider bringing this person back from her vacation. I think the company will still be standing when she returns on Monday. In fact, I’m certain of it!

Mistake #24: Procrastinate!

If you are a procrastinator, raise your hand. Ah ha! I thought so! I bet you went out to buy a lottery ticket before even sitting down to do your taxes (which are due next Tuesday, by the way). I was married to a procrastinator. (“Was” is the operative word, here.) I am the opposite. In fact, I was one of these people in college who would finish my paper a week before it was due. Go ahead. Berate me for that. But, I was able to sleep at night (while I worked three jobs putting myself through and taking more hours than required just so that I could get through it sooner.) Actually, I take that back, I did procrastinate once. I moved into a state where you actually had to take a driving test before getting the license. I refused to do that and, after more than a year, was told, “they changed that – all you do is go in and turn in your current state license and they’ll give you a new one!” It took all of five minutes. That, my friends, was worth procrastinating! But, there are some things (like doing taxes) that really are not worth procrastinating.

One of my direct-reports procrastinates. He did not turn in his monthly report. Well, I take that back. He did turn it in, but it was 8 hours late. So late that I had to turn mine in without his information and sales data in there. I was livid. I don’t get it? Why would you do that to your boss? To piss them off? (Mind you, this is the day after he requested that he get a raise! I think not!)

So, if you procrastinate, do it for a good reason. Are there good reasons to procrastinate? Yes, there are. Lifehack.org blog produced six good reasons to work less and get more accomplished. I see these as procrastinating.