Don’t sweat the small stuff – that’s the classic saying, right?
When it comes to managing people at work, does this ‘rule’ still apply?
Let’s see.
You might have seen a recent article about an assistant Professor at Bond University talking about the cleanliness of your company’s kitchen and bathroom facilities, and how that can impact your culture. Said cleanliness “is no laughing matter”, said the article. You can find it here:
I’ve encountered this situation myself, at various companies I’ve worked at as a manager. Have you? A heap of dirty cups and dishes piled up in the sink. Is this an example of the small stuff we shouldn’t sweat?
I remember working for a large insurance company where it was all hot-desks, neighbourhoods, interconnected floors and shared meeting rooms. Along with those wonderful communal kitchens mentioned in the article, of course. Maybe you have worked somewhere similar? Or even currently do. I used to laugh with my team when we would book a room for our fortnightly (note – not weekly) team meetings, and turn up to be welcomed by a messy room: chairs everywhere, work-related matters (sometimes confidential) still written on whiteboards, pens and rubbish littered all over the table. A right mess. Yet the company had made it very clear that whenever you used a room, you had to clean it for the next person / people. Clearly someone missed the memo.
No matter. We would clean it up ourselves and get on with our meeting. At the end, I’d remind my team:
👉 Let’s leave it as we’d like to find it. Or cleaner.
And so we’d push all the chairs in, get rid of any rubbish, wipe everything off the whiteboards and ensure the room was pretty much spotless for whoever was next.
Over the top? Anally retentive? Don’t worry about it? Not my problem? Who cares?
Or … was it about setting good standards? About having a bit of pride? Simply being a decent human being? Doing the right thing? Wanting to make our workplace a great place to be? Or was it about showing my team that if we cared for something small like this, we’d probably care about ‘bigger’ things like customer service? How the eyes of CEOs light up whenever that cuddly phrase gets mentioned.
I guess like the office kitchen conundrum: only you can decide the answer.
I’m not saying you need to be holier-than-thou, self-righteous or the champion of champions. But hey: you’re the manager, the leader, the boss. Which means like it or not, when it comes to standards and values – not just related to meeting rooms and kitchens, but a whole bunch of work stuff – you need some. So choose some. But choose wisely. Because there’s one person who needs to live up to them every single day. Which can be a real bugger 😂
(There’s that annoying fine detail, again. Where was that in the Management Bible? It’s okay; I’m still working on it.)
Don’t sweat the small stuff? Sure thing.
Now we just need to decide what’s small and what’s not.
