Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to do fairness checks, particularly at work,
Speaker 1: but in any situation where you've got team projects you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that everyone feels like you are
Speaker 1: pulling together. Regular fairness checks are a great way to
Speaker 1: figure that out. Today's tip comes from Tessa West's new
Speaker 1: book Jerks at Work, Toxic co Workers and What to
Speaker 1: Do About Them. This guide to handling difficult colleagues helps
Speaker 1: people with the messy reality that not everyone is automatically
Speaker 1: great to work with, but when we still need to
Speaker 1: get stuff done, there's a lot we can do to
Speaker 1: improve the situation. One of the most common kinds of
Speaker 1: toxic co workers is the free rider. You no doubt
Speaker 1: remember this character from your school days, when the group
Speaker 1: project meant you and maybe one other person did all
Speaker 1: the work, and the free riders were nowhere to be
Speaker 1: found until it was time to collect the good grades or,
Speaker 1: in the workplace version, get credit with the boss. The
Speaker 1: problem with free riders is not just that they are annoying,
Speaker 1: though of course they are. It's that we soon have
Speaker 1: a tragedy of the Commons situation. If free riders keep
Speaker 1: getting away with their free rides, other folks who might
Speaker 1: have been more diligent notice the lack of accountability, so
Speaker 1: they put their attention elsewhere. Tessa notes that in groups,
Speaker 1: fairness applies to how jobs are decided, who does what,
Speaker 1: how rewards are determined, and how anal decisions are made.
Speaker 1: When procedures aren't fair, people aren't set up to contribute
Speaker 1: evenly to the group, and slacking spreads. So she recommends
Speaker 1: a two part fairness check. She says that you can
Speaker 1: start this process at any time during group decision making.
Speaker 1: Part one at the beginning of a project is to
Speaker 1: have the team make a list together of what each
Speaker 1: team member's tasks are for that time period. This ensures
Speaker 1: task visibility, Tessa rights. Then Part two happens periodically. You
Speaker 1: have team members complete a short survey that checks on
Speaker 1: each person's progress. Tessa recommends four questions. First, which items
Speaker 1: did you complete from your list? Second? Did you face
Speaker 1: any unexpected hurdles for example, did some tasks take longer
Speaker 1: than anticipated? Third, did you do any extra work you
Speaker 1: didn't plan for? If so, what was the extra work?
Speaker 1: And four, did you notice anyone else on the team
Speaker 1: doing extra work. I really love this last question because
Speaker 1: many people might be hesitant to complain about stepping in
Speaker 1: and helping a colleague. You do have to keep seeing
Speaker 1: your coworker in the halls and such, but people are
Speaker 1: more likely to report it if they notice someone else
Speaker 1: doing it. The surface result is giving another team member
Speaker 1: a gold star. The more important result is that if
Speaker 1: lots of people are earning gold stars for doing someone
Speaker 1: else's work, you can see that you have a problem.
Speaker 1: Tessa writes that these four questions act as a vitals check.
Speaker 1: They allow you to test the health of the team
Speaker 1: and detect any warning signs of free riding behavior. Well,
Speaker 1: it's nice if your boss can be on board with
Speaker 1: the fairness checks. Teams can obviously do this on their own. Indeed,
Speaker 1: you should all take turns being the checker and enjoy
Speaker 1: the moment when the known free rider is in charge
Speaker 1: of the survey. It can be eye opening for all involved.
Speaker 1: If your teams have come up with a good way
Speaker 1: to ensure fairness and cohesion, I'd love to hear about it.
Speaker 1: You can let me know at Laura at Laura Vanderkamp
Speaker 1: dot com, and you should also check out Tessa West's
Speaker 1: new book, Jerks at Work. I hope your workplace has
Speaker 1: no such problems, but hey, we live in the real world.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
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