March 21, 2013 – ISSN# 1545-2646
Passing the Buck
I don’t know if it is in the water or maybe the air but there is an awful lot of passing the buck going on in business and society. We hear about it daily on the news how the congress passes the buck back and forth across the isle hoping the other will do something. Once some action is taken, then they blame the other for what they did or find fault with their plan. The original buck passer made a choice not to do something but is all ready to pounce down upon the next person who actually takes action. This mentality is costing business and our society enormous dollars which could be put into much better use.
It typically starts out small. Some little item which in the big picture appears to be not important. For example, you go to the supply closet to get a black pen. Upon opening up the box on the shelf you notice there is only one pen left so you take it. You figure that someone else is responsible for stocking the closet and you have other things to do so you close the door and head off to other activities. The next person going to the supply closet for a black pen now finds an empty box and wonders who took the last one and not request more. They now start to hunt down the person responsible for stocking the supply closet to give them a piece of their mind.
You might see this example as very trivial but the small things grow into much larger issues. It moves from pens to the mail not going out to time sheets not being filled in to payroll not being recorded and all of a sudden the buck is being passed all around the organization from one person to another and from one department to another.
Many times, the passing of the buck, takes on the alternative label of “It is not my job” or “It is not in my job description.” Each of these are painfully expensive to your business.
This week take a look around at your team members. Is there any passing of the buck going on? If so, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to pass the buck to someone else to address it?
Tired of the buck getting passed around and people not taking responsibility for themselves or their role in the company? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945 or send us an email to discuss.
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
Copyright – JKL Associates 2013
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