The Simplest Way To Tell If Someone Is A Low Performer At Work — And It Drives High Performers Crazy
It's actually quite obvious.
Roman Samborskyi | Shutterstock Picture this: you come into the office Monday morning, and one of your co-workers bombards you with stories of their weekend spent at the lake and then proceeds to pepper you with questions about your weekend. Feel annoyed yet? Thought so.
The good news is your annoyance isn't simply because you are the office grump. Your penchant to avoid the watercooler gossip is likely because you are a high performer at work, and your co-workers who attempt to engage in "office talk" tend to be low performers, at least according to one woman.
The chattiness of low performers at work drives high performers crazy.
Financial advisor Codie Sanchez shared a clip from her "Big Deal" podcast explaining how low performers at work tend to actively waste their time and the time of whoever they are talking to through "office talk."
This sets high performers off because they aren't too fond of personal conversations in the workplace.
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High performers don't like to engage in office small talk and view it as a waste of time.
She reasoned that high performers don't like to engage in office small talk because, as she put it, it's "superficial" and "high performers are not interested in that."
To put it simply, as she wrote in her Instagram caption, "Time is money, and I don’t let anyone waste either."
High performers have one objective at work — get their work done. They want to get their work done and, as Sanchez succinctly put it, "go live their lives."
Low performers aren't "trying to execute." Sanchez emphasized these people are simply "trying to show they are there" without putting in any actual work.
She urged employees to be wary of those low performers because they will try to pull you into their minimal effort vortex and waste your time simply because they've become comfortable with wasting their own time.
Commenters expressed relief at having a legitimate reason for their annoyance with and reluctance to engage in office small talk.
"Thanks for helping me to stop feeling bad when I get annoyed about unnecessary boring conversations," the top comment read.
Not everyone is seeking friendship in the workplace, some just want to do their work, get paid, and go home. There's nothing wrong with that, even though some co-workers seem to believe otherwise. There is a distinct difference between having a real friendship with a co-worker and sharing office gossip simply for the sake of avoiding work, however.
According to Gallup, data indicates that co-workers who have legitimate friendships in the workplace are happier and more successful. The data found that having what Gallup described as a "best friend at work" was linked to higher job satisfaction, a sense of connection and responsibility to the team as a whole, and higher productivity.
So, where is the line between wasting time and cultivating a beneficial workplace friendship?
As one commenter noted, "I think you have to be able to discern when it’s time to personally connect versus putting your head down and get things done."
Although it's important to notice and reciprocate genuineness. There's a difference between making filler conversation to avoid doing work and cultivating work relationships.
Be mindful of how you spend your time at work.
For the most part, Sanchez's statements hold true as high performers tend to be those who do what needs to be done with minimal disruption, while low performers talk with co-workers to get away from the responsibility of the position they hold.
There's nothing wrong with a little conversation every now and then; just remember that you have a job to do, so focus on that.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.