Today in our Inspired Leadership Minute I want us to look at Proverbs 18:9: “One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.”
This proverb is pretty straightforward. Here Solomon is saying a person whose work is careless or sloppy is as bad as someone who intentionally destroys what has been built.
What does this mean for us as leaders today?
Solomon’s equating the person who does sloppy work with someone who intentionally destroys as harsh, but think about it.
We don’t tolerate people in our organizations who purposely destroy what we are working to build because they impede the progress of the organization.
What about the person or is careless or sloppy in their work? Their work has to be corrected or completely redone. You expend precious additional resources to make up for their sloppy work.
Everybody makes mistakes. Goodness knows I’ve made gazillions of them over the course of my career. So let’s be gracious as leaders and help people correct mistakes they make and learn from them.
But when the need arises, and someone is habitually careless or sloppy in their work, it is best to find other work that suits them better, or even help them find a new career.
That’s it for this week’s Inspired Leadership Minute. My prayer is that together we will be the powerful, inspired leaders God intends us to be!
Please leave me a comment and let me know how this week’s Inspired Leadership Minute inspired you!
A close cousin of the careless worker is the apathetic one. We’ve had a few in my profession over the years. Some would respond to direct conversation. Supervisors usually started with finding out what was going on in their life. Home problems? Work issues that prevented them from doing better? But once that was covered, often the culprit was laziness and apathy. Which meant performance improvement plans, etc. Some left of their own accord once they realized mediocrity would not be tolerated. What I never understood was how someone could be okay with not doing their job well. Thanks, Ron!