4 Minute Read

Doris was the type of employee you could set your watch to. She arrived at 7:50am each day and left no later than 5:10pm. Her day was spent doing administrative work—much of it routine, identical to the day before, and the day before that. Through the years everyone got used to her reaction to change. If her schedule was interrupted, you needed to give at least a 48-hour notice. Larger interruptions, such as painting the office or a software upgrade would require a series of one-to-one meetings, coddling, and accommodation.  Reading this, one might think that people resented Doris when, actually, the opposite is true. The vast majority of employees liked and valued Doris. She was punctual to a fault, extremely dependable and as emotionally predictable as they come.

Do you have people on your team like Doris? How about the person who isn’t exactly a ball of fire, but also doesn’t make waves? What about employees who don’t want to become supervisors or even team leaders? They just want to do their job and go home.

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