Do you have a Walkway Stroller/Web Browser at your office? You may recognise the type:
Characteristics: Highly mobile around the office complex and loves peeping into others’ cubicle (workstation) finding out how others are managing their work and life.
This behaviour may manifest itself virtually. The walkway stroller may not cruise the actual hallways, they may cruise the web instead. They may take it upon themselves to police the social media sites, peeping into the personal posts of their co-workers.
This person typically thinks s/he is practicing management by walkabout except that s/he forgets to manage his or her own work, deliverables and KPIs first.
Traits to look out for: Highly people-oriented, low tolerance for structure, low tolerance for routine and rules, short attention span, gets bored with own work quickly, will need to talk to others to regain the “feel good factor” when work hits an obstacle or met with a roadblock. Possess tranquil inertia or tendency to be overly laid back, the place you go to relax and get away from work, stress, commitments, disengage. This is often demonstrated by the lack of urgency in their work approach.
Negative side: Low perseverance and lacks initiative or interest to try new ways to overcome obstacles while staying focused at task at hand. Takes longer than others to complete tasks. A procrastinator and has habitual tendency to miss deadlines.
Just because you may have a “Walkway Stroller” doesn’t mean you have to get rid of them. In fact, it may be difficult to pinpoint an exact reason to terminate them. Harrison Assessments understands that sometimes it’s better to correct poor behaviour rather than spend a lot of time selecting and training new unproven talent.
How to manage: Let them own up their accountability and publicly announce their key deliverables. Must set deadlines and be firm with setting expectations upfront. Tie the team’s performance and delivery to how each member’s ability or failure to deliver on time will affect the assessment of the team’s performance and incentives.
Harrison Assessments Talent Solutions can help you identify the “walkway strollers/web cruisers” in your organisation and can help you manage and hopefully develop them into a more productive team member.