Managing Leadership^®

While there is a lot to be said for a strong work ethic and sense of industry, workaholics generally are not particularly productive people. They generally use frenzied activity to conceal a lack of forward motion and focus. I have known many such people, not uncommonly viewed with something approaching awe by observers from outside of the workplace and even sometimes by their peers, and who were given the title of “workaholic” as an honorarium; some even allowed it to be used as a shield to deflect closer scrutiny.

But the truth is that workaholics typically cannot withstand closer scrutiny. Generally, I have found that they fall into four categories:

The first is unproductive and unfocused workers concealing their shortcomings. This group attempts to make up for poor productivity with extra effort, or to conceal it with the false aura of an insatiable capacity for work. This is rarely effective in either case. Oddly, bosses may admire and hold up for example the apparent devotion to work of these people, but they rarely really look to them for results, because they are hard to extract. Additionally, people in this category will sometimes take on work they are incapable of performing, and then either delegate it to their own juniors or simply become a bottleneck, all the while conspicuously displaying how busy they are.

The second is people who are hiding from other aspects of their lives. They may have unpleasant situations at home, or simply be incompetent at close human relations, so they hide behind something impersonal that demands little of this nature from them. This group may or may not be productive, but if so, it is generally not in proportion to the amount of time they put in.

The third group would include those who do not necessarily spend all of their time at work, but who feel somehow that it is inappropriate to “waste” it in unproductive “liesure” activities. I know people, for example, who never read non-business related books, because they think that that would be a poor use of their time. Their non-work activities, by the same token, are often either at bottom work-related or can be seen to be in some degree designed to improve their at-work productivity.

The last category is perhaps the most common – the person who simply can’t control his or her own time. He or she seems to be a workaholic, but is really just desperately struggling to stay afloat, negotiating all the debris cast into their schedules while trying to find the time to get to what their actual work may be. This group is also basically unproductive, unfocused, and ill-disciplined.

Yes, there are exceptions. For some of us, our work is our life (or so you are expected to believe). But even where such exceptions are valid, they merely prove the rule that workaholics typically are inefficient workers who are unable to effectively manage their own time and lives, much less their business activities and relationships. Depending on the positions they hold, they can be amusing distractions or stress-inducing obstacles, but they are usually not a good example to follow in the workplace and rarely inspire increased productivity and efficiency in others.

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Or hardly working: Please take a moment to read this WSJ item about the latest ring in the modern travelling leadership circus. I’ll be commenting on this piece within the next few days.

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