They Over-Correlate Hours to Results
The worst lies are partial truths. If one works more and if one works harder, more gets done. But the goal is not more work. The goal is more value. Workaholics do work longer hours. But longer hours easily deliver diminishing returns. More mistakes get made and work becomes an opiate to the worker and justification to the manager when problems are not getting resolved in a timely manner. Pausing to think, spending time planning, or simply sleeping on the question before deciding upon a course of action can make work smarter, more collaborative, more coordinated and ultimately more valuable.
They Dodge Work They Do not Like
“I’m doing A, B, C and D. And it requires me to work until ten or eleven each night plus ten to fifteen hours on the weekends. How much time does Laura put in? Give her E, F and G!” Workaholics will use their long hours as a reason something does not need to be done, does not need to be done on time or should be done by someone else. It is a carefully crafted lie. They don’t want to do certain things and are willing to fight, argue and manipulate in order to avoid these responsibilities.
They Do a Lot of Low-to-No Value Work
A careful analysis of what workaholics produce will reveal they do a lot of work that adds little-to-no value. Just as they dodge work they do not like, they gravitate toward work they like, even when it is not valuable work. This low value work contributes to their illusion of productivity.
Deadlines Are Either Sacred or Meaningless
Workaholics cannot or will not budget their time. This skill is crucial for setting expectations for delivery and asking for extensions well ahead of any deadline. Before deadlines they act all busy claiming they have a tight deadline. When they miss deadlines, they act as if meeting the deadline was less important than everything else on their plate and justified them not providing an early warning or requesting an extension.
They Insist on Praise
A healthy worker graciously accepts praise when praise is due and politely shrugs off excessive praise. If anything, healthy workers err in expecting less praise than what is due and are much more satisfied with a job well done than with any resulting praise. In fact, healthy people have the highest tolerance for little-to-no praise and will happily go on without praise as long as the lack of recognition does not turn into a basis for criticism or a less qualified person being granted increased responsibility the truly productive worker deserves. In contrast, workaholics find every excuse possible to draw praise their way. They use such rosters of praise to fend off criticism, earn themselves great annual reviews as well as promotions above more qualified individuals. As such, workaholics tend to be disproportionately represented in lower and middle level management roles, dragging the productivity of entire teams down with their insistence of long hours of low-value-add work from their reports.
They Impede the Productivity of Others
Workaholics particularly loathe to do any work that would make someone else’s job go more smoothly. They also demand all the resources they can use rather than negotiating for their fair portion of competing resources. The workaholic may appear to be the lone productive player on an otherwise unproductive team but the opposite may be the truth.
They Cultivate Allies and Undermine Challengers
Workaholics use their long hours and their so-called high-achiever status to cultivate allies. The ones most likely to see through them are the actual top producers who tend to focus more on the high value work than corporate politics. Workaholics then use their power base to marginalize or even eliminate those whose actual aptitude threatens to expose such workaholics as frauds. This is especially true at the entry level where the workaholic’s manager is most likely to either be naive to such antics or also be a workaholic with the same misguided values.
Their Control is more Important than the Outcome
At their core, workaholics and all other addicts care most about control. Healthy people have deep reserves that allow them to function well without control. In situations where control is low, workaholics will quickly accuse healthy workers of not caring because healthy workers do not give off the so-called “right” signals. Panic is confused for concern; anger is confused for seriousness; frustration is confused for diligence. It is extremely difficult to convince even the most well-meaning addict otherwise.
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The above eight points describe the textbook workaholic. But the world is rarely so black-and-white. In actual experience the non-chronic workaholic will sometimes rise to the occasion and actually do something great. Likewise, normal healthy workers can get themselves into a rut where work is the opiate when results are fleeting. And of course there are also plenty of lazy people who neither work hard, nor produce well whose survival strategy is doing just enough. So perhaps we can at least appreciate even the most chronic workaholic for trying. But most importantly, developing the ability to spot counterfeit productivity and not letting it drag an organization down is where having this knowledge and courageously acting upon it will be most helpful.
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