Flu, Fava Beans & You

Imagine this.

Your five-year old brings you a big case of snotty nose from day-care. Two days later, you wake up feeling feverish with the flu and coughing like a rattle-trap clunker. Even though you’re feeling like swamp water, you drag into work to attend a big meeting.

“After all,” you say to your warrior self, “no one’s going to call me a wimp!”

Right in the middle of the important pow-wow a coughing attack hits and you feel like you’re going to hack up a lung. Kleenex is flying. Spittle is spraying. And you’re cursing the flu-infested day-care.

Two days later the poor bloke who was sitting next to you in the meeting is now coughing in a feverish fit.

You coughed. He caught it.

Make no mistake. Your coughing caused his flu. Your decision to come to work rather than stay at home sowed the seeds of disease and now he’s paying for it.

His flu is external collateral damage that is directly attributable to what you did.

What other kinds of external collateral damage are your decisions, actions and attitudes causing?

Are you one of the thousands and thousands of Type A titans who are headed for a collateral damage train wreck?

Or… drum roll, please…

Are you a boss who chooses to overlook the warning signs that Hannibal Lector has joined your staff?

You see the fava beans and the splashes of chianti scattered all over the cubicles, but you just can’t bring yourself to see what’s right under your nose.

These are true stories. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.

“When you attempt to discuss things with Jim, he’s always answering emails or messing with papers. He seems so distracted or disinterested. Sometimes he even cuts you off before you can finish your sentence. Jim’s poor communication is frustrating the whole project team.”

“Sally has screamed at so many of the clerks that no one will work with her anymore. Sally’s talented but her behavior is so nasty it’s destroying department morale. I actually cringe when I see her coming.”

“My boss seldom makes any effort to talk to me. I don’t want to be micro-managed, but it would be nice to know that she appreciates my work. Why should I knock myself out to give 110% when no one seems to notice?”

“If Wendy would just make up her mind, my life would be so much easier. First she tells me to do one thing and then she tells me to do something else. I’m so sick of wasting my time because she can’t make a decision.”

“Jeff avoids conflict at all costs. Unfortunately, his inability to have tough conversations creates more problems for the rest of us. I’m always having to drop everything I’m doing to put out fires Jeff could have prevented.”

Sound familiar?

If left unchecked, external collateral damage is like swine flu on steriods. Before you know it, your whole team is going to be suffering from it. Productivity will nose dive. Costs will skyrocket. Profit margins will evaporate and your competitive advantage will fade like dust in the wind.

External collateral damage can be caused by behavior as obvious as screaming fits of rage and as subtle as someone stoically refusing to delegate more.

Watch for these common warning signs of top performer external collateral damage and take action before the spittle sprays and the fava beans sprout.

- Workplace conflict;
- Competing priorities;
- Poor execution;
- Low employee morale, bad attitudes or complaints;
- Unhappy customers;
- Lack of clarity;
- Increased staff turnover;