Unreliable Coworkers & Being Accountable
Welcome to the #culturedrop. Every Tuesday, Galen Emanuele emails tools to advance leadership skills, team culture, and personal growth. No spam, just great content. Sign up now to get it in your inbox.
Get your act together (said with love).
This conversation comes from a place of genuine and gentle care for people and all their quirks. Humans are weird. We’re inconsistent. We have blind spots, I certainly do.
The focus of this #culturedrop is around acknowledging is how frustrating it can be to be the people on a team who are quietly carrying the weight and having to navigate workarounds for someone else’s patterns. Specifically patterns of not being reliable and highly self accountable.
This isn’t about shaming anyone. It’s about self-awareness, responsibility, and understanding the impact of how we show up for the people around us.
“Most of us have idiosyncrasies. Maybe you’re forgetful. Maybe you struggle with time. Maybe details slip through the cracks. On their own, these traits aren’t moral failures.”
When your quirks become everyone else’s problem.
Most of us have idiosyncrasies. Maybe you’re forgetful. Maybe you struggle with time. Maybe details slip through the cracks. On their own, these traits aren’t moral failures.
The issue arises when everyone else has to build workarounds to accommodate them.
If people constantly remind you of timelines and deadlines because they assume you’ll forget, that’s not neutral. If meetings routinely start late because you’re always running behind, Or if teammates constantly feel that they have to double-check your work because errors are expected. These things don’t only cost time and energy, they erode trust and confidence.
Over time, the pattern becomes the problem. The most consistent thing about you becomes that you’re unreliable and inconsistent. The reality is that it becomes a burden to others, even if no one ever says it out loud.
Reliability is a team sport.
Professional environments run largely on trust. Trust isn’t built on intentions, it’s built on patterns.
When you’re consistently late, consistently forgetful, or consistently unprepared, the team adapts. People add buffers. They follow up more than they should. They quietly adjust expectations.
None of that feels dramatic in the moment, and no single incidence of it is a big deal. But honestly, it’s annoying. And it does have an impact on your reputation, your relationships, and how much people rely on you.
The truth is that other people often won’t confront you about it. They’ll just absorb and work around it.
“... it does have an impact on your reputation, your relationships, and how much people rely on you.”
Self-awareness is only step one.
A lot of people stop at awareness.
“I’m bad with time.”
“I don’t have a good memory.”
“I’m not detail-oriented.”
Okay. That’s useful information. But awareness without adjustment isn’t growth.
If you know you forget things, write them down. If your memory isn’t reliable, don’t make it the system. Use a calendar. Set reminders. Build processes that support you.
Your wiring or acknowledgement of something that challenges you doesn’t absolve you from responsibility. Use it to understand what kind of support you need to create for yourself.
Build systems, not excuses.
If spelling and grammar aren’t your strength, run your writing through a tool that catches mistakes. If details slip, slow down and add a checklist. If organization is hard, use one system consistently instead of five half-used ones.
If you’re “time-blind”, leave earlier than feels necessary. If you always underestimate how long things take, plan for that instead of just being late again… for the millionth time.
There are small, practical adjustments that can dramatically reduce the friction you create for others.
Take responsibility for your own patterns, and prevent everyone else from having to compensate for them.
“When you notice consistent patterns in your life, especially ones that frustrate others, it’s not a signal to beat yourself up, but to adjust.”
Why it matters.
None of this is a judgement call on your worth or character, or about labeling anyone as a “bad person.”
It does matter professionally. It affects how people experience working with you. It affects how much other’s trust you, your reputation, and whether your teammates feel supported or drained.
In your career this can hinder your advancement, growth, endorsements from leaders, and can result in mediocre or poor performance reviews. It can cost you opportunities that you’ll never even know about.
When you notice consistent patterns in your life, especially ones that frustrate others, it’s not a signal to beat yourself up, but to adjust.
Harsh words, soft intent.
“Being an adult means owning how your differences show up in shared spaces.”
Some people are wired differently, and that’s okay. Teams need diversity of thought and different strengths and capabilities and all the quirks that can come along with that. And, being an adult means owning how your differences show up in shared spaces.
Figure out what trips you up, put guardrails in place, own your shit.
These might feel like harsh words, but they come from a place of love:)
Related Blogs:
Want more?
This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop
MORE
