The Copy Paper Syndrome: why selfish behavior is killing your company from the inside out.
What difference can a few sheets of paper make?
We’ve all been there: you head over to the office copier, one that’s shared by a dozen or several dozen other employees who all bear the same responsibility for keeping it stocked with paper, only to find that the paper trays are empty. You look around for the spare reams of paper and find that those, too, are somehow missing.
Here’s where the syndrome kicks in: what’s your next move?
A) Walk to wherever the boxes of paper are stored and bring a whole box, or at least several reams, back with you and fill the paper trays while stacking up the extra paper for others to use later?
B) Walk to the paper storage area and retrieve a ream of paper so you can completely fill the tray you need?
C) Walk to the nearest other copier, grab a handful of pieces of paper based on what you need and return to your copier to finish the job?
D) Walk to the nearest other copier and take care of your task there, since that machine apparently has paper?
If you chose options A or B, you’re already in rarefied air in today’s me-first company cultures. Unfortunately, it is far too common to find employees and managers alike who focus on taking care of themselves and their needs rather than looking out for the good of the company and their fellow associates.
The perils of looking out for you versus looking out for us
Companies are made up of a variety of moving parts, all working together to make a product or offer a range of services. It takes everyone on the team to make that happen. When employees fill their days with only those items that are important to them, or are listed on the scorecard they are held accountable for, they miss the ‘working together’ principle of teamwork. If it’s always someone else’s job to do the little things, then the organization begins to break down. Things that are left for others invariably end up never getting done.
Short-term outlook negates the long-term vision
The Internet is filled with disparaging articles on Millennials and their give-it-to-me-now approach to work and life. But it’s not just Millennials. This is a systemic issue. Many large organizations promote managers on regular two- and four-year intervals, as long as those managers don’t screw things up. As a result, those managers avoid long-term solutions and instead focus on what will help them get promoted to their next station. We have found brand and marketing managers who recognized larger issues with their brands and that someone, eventually, would need to address them. But why worry with the big picture when grabbing the low hanging fruit will get you to the next level?
Upper management rarely sees the problems—because selfish behavior is like a cancer in the corporate body silently killing the company from the inside out. By the time upper management gets wind of the problem the cancer has spread and now manifests itself as missed orders, shipment delays, product quality issues, facility breakdowns, budget overruns, etc. The systematic dysfunction comes about because people are looking out for themselves. And because many companies reward the behavior, they only have themselves to blame.
The boy who saved Holland, but couldn’t save the corporation
There’s an old tale about a boy in Holland who was walking along one of the dykes and noticed a trickle of water coming out of it. Knowing that water coming through a dyke could eventually lead to a catastrophic failure of the dyke and therefore imperil the country, the boy stuck his finger in the hole and thus saved the Holland.
The same story could happen across many manufacturing plants today—but it doesn’t. In the name of budget cutting, companies neglect to make basic repairs to their facilities.
For example, in one large manufacturing plant we found in our research, the facilities stretch across tens of acres and require constant maintenance and repair to withstand the intense weather outside. Now no site manager wants to fork over their entire budget to repair 40 acres of rooftop, so you do what you have to, and you divert the water. Short-term fix for a long term issue. No need to repair a small hole or two in the roof when those dollars could be conserved or used elsewhere, right? The mentality shifts to just putting a tarp up to block the drip when it rains.
But little holes add up. And since employees are looking after themselves, remember here that no one is rewarded for plugging the hole, the drips and tarps keep coming. As a result, on rainy days, this manufacturer’s facilities look like they’ve hung circus tents inside to deflect the water. Deflect is the operative term here. Because the tarps aren’t solving the problem. No one is solving the problem. In terms of the Copy Paper Syndrome, they’re just getting a few sheets of paper for themselves and leaving the larger problem for someone else.
Be the one who breaks the cycle
It is important that we look out for the needs of more than just ourselves to ensure that all areas of the company are tended to. Don’t leave a task for that unnamed person—who probably doesn’t exist anymore anyway. Make the time to look out for the person behind you. Be the one who gets the extra paper even when you only need a few sheets. Be the manager who, even if you can’t solve the larger problems, makes sure upper management is aware of them and has line of sight on the issues. Sure you’re busy. Everyone is busy. It takes the entire team to win the game.