A humorous example of the “coaster” is Wally from the comic strip Dilbert. He spends his entire day finding ways to get out of work and be left alone to drink his cup of coffee. While Wally may be an extreme exaggeration of the “coaster” at your workplace, there may be more subtle forms of Wally at work. For instance, the man or woman who busies themselves working on projects that yield no specific result, or those who stretch work activities into weeks and months when a few well-focused days would complete the project with results.

I believe there are many factors that contribute to this coasting mentality. After months and even years on a job, employees lose sight of those tasks that yield the greatest outcomes for their unit or departments. They often take on the work that is easiest for them to complete but not necessarily most relevant. Because they have not received the right amount of feedback from their bosses, they continue doing the minimal amount of work just to get by.

The Top 4 Activities Which Will Yield the Most Results

1. Keep Score: They      may need to find a way to measure their outcomes each day. This      measurement should show the employee their relevance to the company and      customer. In the example above, Mark could measure sales revenue brought      into the radio station along with the number of new customers walking into      his client’s businesses. Whatever numbers or data are being used, the      employee should be able to gather the information on their own. Employees      often need to know the score and how to keep score in order to stay      focused and motivated in their jobs.
2. Recognize Effort:      Another reason they may lack energy and enthusiasm for taking on more work      is the lack of recognition for going above and beyond. When an employee is      new, they want to prove themselves worthy of the position and so they may      try to show visibly their competence by taking on projects that no one      wants or putting in extra effort to impress their boss and co-workers.      More seasoned workers have seen little return on this effort and therefore      do just the bare minimum to get by. They may have spurts of extra activity      but it is no longer used to impress anyone. Are you recognizing the extra      effort your employees put forth? Do you have processes to show your      appreciation? If you give your praise verbally, make sure it is very      specific and not simply “thanks for everything you do”.

Mark was excited to start his new job as a sales representative for a leading radio station in his home town. He began his first week of work learning the names of the clients that he would be calling on along with all the “buzz” words used at the radio station. He met enthusiastically with each new client and created a marketing plan that he thought would get them results. Over time, however, he realized that each client had many other marketing options to spend their hard earned dollars on and that it was difficult to prove that radio was getting them results. His enthusiasm began to wane and he found it more difficult each day to pick up the phone or make a face-to-face call to a potential client. He began to find activities to do at his desk like organizing his client files, creating ad copy instead of sending it to the station’s copy writers. Mark had been with the radio station for six months and was now dreading the drive into work. Mondays were especially difficult.

Why is it that once productive, engaged, highly motivated employees begin to coast in their jobs? What was the critical turning point that made them decide to work less enthusiastically? While we may not know the exact moment this happens, we do know that the decline occurs over a period of time and the coaster may not even be aware it is happening. While it is hard to put a price on an employee ‘checking out” mentally, it would be safe to say the costs are staggering.

To begin our discussion on management processes, I would like to introduce or reintroduce Douglas McGregor’s employee motivation theories X and Y.

• Theory X      states that employees need to be looked after because at any chance they      will screw up. According to Theory X, a manager must watch their      employees closely because they do not have good intentions, especially      when left alone.
• Theory Y      states that employees wake up in the morning and head to work with the      mindset of doing a good job while at work. People will seek out higher      responsibility without the threat of punishment.

An effective manager must embrace Theory Y with their employees because Theory X creates systems of distrust and the self-fulfilling prophecy may take hold that says, “if you don’t trust us, we will live up to that”. A manager should not blindly accept that everyone is working to their full potential. As the old adage says, you need to inspect what you expect, not because you distrust, but rather, to offer the right amount of direction and support necessary for the employee to succeed.