lack of preperation
As I do on many weekends I attended a horse show my daughter was competing in. Riding horses is a sport that demands the most out of our body, brain, and muscles.
Not one rider, entered that jumping ring without first walking the course, planning on how they would ride the course, discussing the peculiarities of the horse with their coach. While not every rider won or even got a ribbon they all performed at a very high level.
In my consulting practice I am amazed at how un-prepared most people are for their jobs. They continue to struggle and at the same time tell you they don’t have time to prepare for a meeting, conversation, skill building, new job, or event and then wonder why they are not doing well.
I am not wondering at all, are you?
Jeff Winer
Oh, where to begin? My $.02, depending on the what level the employee is at, they are spending too much time surfing the politics of the company (or surfing the web) to be prepared for their own job.
Also, from past “Corporate America” experience, we would have a pre-planning meeting to discuss what we would be doing at the planning meeting to discuss what would would be doing at the training meeting. Do we need all the meetings? I would spend an average of 3-5 hours a day in meetings. When do you work? For me, it meant getting there at 7:30a and not leaving till 7:30p or 8:00p….
Carrie Swain
Excellent note Ned! This is my pet peeve. Recently I paired up with another business owner to give a presentation/training class. I was basically assisting and volunteering my time. The presenter was 20 minutes late to her own class and didn’t have the handout mat’ls assembled yet! Lack of preparation not only reflects negatively on the presenter’s reputation but on mine too because I’m involved and my judgment is in question.
Lynda Fahey
It sounds to me that the companys/people you’re dealing with aren’t professionals to begin with.~~~ The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
Eric Camulli
Riders walk the course and study it and prepare accordingly because their coaches taught them that these habits lead to success. Apathetic senior management who does not take an interest in their people, or their training and who provide poor examples of entitlement-like behavior leads to a clueless, apathetic middle management layer, who in turn, cares little about coaching, mentoring and developing their teams. It’s our human nature to follow the path of least resistance, but that doesn’t mean we are all lazy and not willing to prepare ourselves. It does mean, however, that we are all susceptible to laziness and ill-preparedness in the absence of good leadership. Usually, the best, most prepared workers had a mentor, whether it be a parent, teacher, coach or manager.