Originally appeared on: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/qdtarchive/how-to-deal-with-flaky-people/
July 7, 2015
Some people just don’t deliver. Don’t let them. Here’s how to handle a flake.
Flaky pastries are tasty and delicious. Flaky people, on the other hand, usually slow us down, get in our way, and generally keep us from working less and doing more.
The problem is that we can’t depend on them. They promise to do their part on time and under budget, but then don’t deliver. Or even worse, they simply don’t communicate. Deadlines come and go and we’re never quite sure whether we should be waiting for them to finally do what they promised, or assume they’ve quit and no longer work here, or start melting a wax sculpture of them over a candle flame because, goodness knows, nothing else has worked yet.
Regardless, if you’re like me and you actually are motivated by getting lots of great stuff done, you need to master the skill of being able to have a path forward even if the flakes are out in force.
Use Default Actions
Since by definition, flaky people don’t get things done on time, you can start to rely on this. When coordinating with a flaky person, set up defaults. Decide what will happen if they don’t deliver, and make sure they know.
Europa is now managing Bernice’s store, Green Growing Things, while Bernice is formulating strategy. Europa insists on approving every financial and PR decision. Bernice’s fiance Melvin emails, “The Audrey 2s are growing so large that we need a new greenhouse. Can we spend the money?” Employee Kaitlin emails, “I need the inventory level for band-aids, because we have to reorder.” But even though she wants to be in the loop, Europa rarely writes back. “I’m too busy” she cries. Well, of course she is. She’s in the middle of everything. But Melvin and Kaitlin still need to do their jobs. They can get their work done by subtly changing how they include Europa. By introducing defaults—what will happen if Europa doesn’t respond—and deadlines, they can keep moving forward while still keeping Europa involved.
When Signoff Is Needed
When there’s a decision that requires a flaky person’s approval, send them the background material, a deadline, and the default decision. Tell Monsieur or Madame Flake that if they don’t respond by the deadline, you’ll assume they are giving you tactic approval to go ahead.
When Melvin passes along the greenhouse request, he can say…
“If I don’t hear from you by Friday, I’ll assume you approve of the project and will hire an architect.” He’s giving Europa a chance to respond while putting a firm limit on her ability to hold things up.
When You’re Awaiting Information
Sometimes your flaky co-worker has information you need. Kaitlin is waiting to for Europa’s inventory levels. Without that information, Kaitlin can’t order new supplies. Or can she?
Flaky people don’t get things done. So rely on it! Assume flakiness will occur.
Ideally, if you need information, you need information. But if it’s not forthcoming, well, it’s not forthcoming. So choose a reasonable, completely uninformed, guess as to the information and move forward with that if the flake doesn’t respond.
“Europa,” Kaitlin writes, “I need the band-aid inventory levels. If I don’t hear back from you by noon Thursday, I’ll assume we’re running low and reorder.” Yes, you’re just guessing. But it’s sometimes better to progress with a guess than delay for weeks waiting for information.
However, do cover your butt in this case! Before using your educated guess, let your flaky friend know what you’re doing. “Europa, I never heard back from you and it’s now Thursday at noon. I’m going to assume that we’re running low on band-aids and reorder. Toodles!”
Proceed with your default information, monitoring closely. You’re using a guess that might be wildly wrong, so make sure things are unfolding acceptably every step of the way.
Agree on Consequences for Operational Promises
Some flakiness can’t be handled with defaults. If you depend on someone actually doing something that you can’t do on your own, their flakiness can be your show-stopper. When you’ve realized that someone is flaky a lot, set an agreement with them. Explain that you need for operation to run smoothly, and flakiness—for any reason—isn’t acceptable if it keeps happening.
Ask the person what consequence there should be if they miss their handoff again. They’ll say “We don’t need consequences. I promise, it won’t happen again.” To which you say, “Well then, if it won’t happen again, let’s make the consequences be that if there’s another delay, the person who missed the handoff pays to take the entire team to lunch. Since it won’t happen again, this is pretty much a no-brainer. Right?”
If your dearest colleague isn’t willing to set up consequences—and remember, you’re framing this so it’s two way: if it’s your fault, you’ll buy lunch—then propose an escalation path. Just ask, “I understand it won’t happen again. If it does, after how many times should we go together to your boss to help figure out how we can keep it from happening again. Since it won’t happen again, we may as well escalate if it happens again even once. Right?”
What you’re doing here is giving the non-performer a chance to be part of the decision-making process. If they continue to be flaky, you’d have to go to their boss anyway. This way, you’re informing them of that, and giving them a chance to be part of the escalation process.
Confirm Defaults in Real Life
When you set up a default decision, information, or escalation, make sure to confirm the defaults by phone or in person. Don’t just rely on email. Otherwise, your flaky friend might get upset when things move forward, and claim that their spam filter ate the relevant email. (Right, sure).
Melvin and Kaitlin set up their defaults. Europa was so overwhelmed she never got back to them, and they moved forward anyway. Lo and behold, things kept running smoothly. Europa began trusting Melvin and Kaitlin’s decision-making, stopped insisting on being in the middle of every decision, and now concentrates her attention on where she’s genuinely needed. Not only will defaults make things easier for you, but they can lead to everyone being happier, working less, and doing more.
For more tips on making yourself (and those around you) more efficient, check out Get-It-Done Guy’s 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More.
Work Less, Do More, and have a Great Life!
About the Author
Stever Robbins was the host of the Get-it-Done Guy podcast, an iTunes top-10 business podcast, from 2007 to 2020. He is a graduate of W. Edward Deming’s Total Quality Management training program and a Certified Master Trainer Elite of NLP. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a degree in Computer Science from MIT.
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