Leverage boredom into career improvement fuel
DEAR J.T. & DALE: I just graduated from college and got an entry-level job at a big company in my area. The work is so boring. I can get it done in five hours. The rest of the folks take their sweet time all day. I want to ask for more work, but when I mentioned it to someone, they said I’d make my peers look bad and they’d resent me. Do you agree? — Nick
Dale: Let’s start with a crucial but nearly forgotten corpo-cultural principle, Parkinson’s Law: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” This, Nick, is what you are witnessing at your workplace every day. And you are right to recoil from it, because it will drag you down to the lowest common denominator of productivity.
J.T.: What’s more important: What your peers think of you, or building your career? I would talk to your boss and see what extra work you can take on. You sound like a go-getter. If that’s true, you’ll spend your whole life dealing with co-workers who don’t like your desire to move up. As long as you don’t criticize your co-workers or intentionally try to discredit them, then you should follow your gut and see what else you can do.
Dale: There is, however, an art to doing more than everyone else. Let’s say your job is completing insurance files, and the typical employee does 20 a day while you do 30. Yes, your fellow employees will resent you; moreover, there will be two additional drawbacks: (1) You’re unlikely to get promoted, because your boss won’t want to lose such a productive employee; and (2) you will waste a massive opportunity. If you can do your work in five hours, you’ve earned yourself three hours a day to root out better work. Not just more — better. Many years ago, as a young corporate employee in market research, I found myself in a similar situation. Instead of merely writing more reports, I used the time to develop new ways to measure advertising, and I sold the company on using a new market-prediction model. Soon I was giving presentations to upper management rather than merely being the guy who did lots of research reports. My point? Boredom is your friend. Let it drive your curiosity, not your resentments, and it will fuel your career. Dear J.T. & Dale: I go to the coffee shop down the street every day on my afternoon break. At least once a week, my boss asks me to get him a coffee. But, he has never offered to pay. Is this normal? — Mariana
J.T.: Wow. No. Not normal in my world. That said, I can’t think of an easy way to ask him for the money. Maybe next time, you meet in front of his door and hand a co-worker his or her coffee and have him or her say, nice and loudly so he overhears it, “Here’s my money for the coffee you got me.” If not, I’d chalk it up to something you are doing to better your relationship with your boss!
Dale: I can think of only two explanations for such boorish behavior: Your boss is simply a jerk, or else he’s an “absentminded professor” type. The latter simply don’t notice how the real world functions. If he’s one of those, he might not even know that you are paying for the coffee. (If he thought about it, which he hasn’t, he’d assume that you get it from someplace like the employee lounge.) So, to bring him down to reality, the next time he asks you to get coffee, simply say, “I’m on a new budget, so I’m not going today,” and see what happens. Or tell him: “I’m a little short on cash today. The coffee is X dollars.” Try whatever is most comfortable for you, and you’ll quickly determine what sort of boss you have. You might reacquaint him with reality. Or, if he continues being a jerk about coffee, then he’ll be a jerk about your career, so start using those visits to the coffee shop to make some networking calls.
Jeanine “J.T.” Tanner O’Donnell is a professional development specialist and the founder of the consulting firm jtodonnell. Dale Dauten resolves employment and other business disputes as a mediator with AgreementHouse.com. Please visit them at jtanddale. com, where you can send questions via email, or write to them in care of King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., 15th Floor, New York, NY 10019.