How to Help Your Team Manage Grunt Work

But not every part of every job is a joy. While we all want to find a level of meaning and purpose in our work, often, some fraction of our time has to be spent doing tasks that have no intrinsic meaning and serve no deeper purpose than helping to keep the workplace trains running. If you manage someone frustrated by the amount of grunt work on their plate, help them shrink the amount of time they spend on it. Give them an estimate of how long it should take them, and then use rewards and consequences to motivate them to reach it. Remind them that a positive attitude is always promotable. And model the behavior. If they see you doing some scut work too, they’ll be less likely to complain about it themselves.