Workplace Multiplier by Tola Akinsulire

Tuesday Edition: January 28, 2025

Welcome to the Workplace Multiplier newsletter. Published every Tuesday & Friday, we discover something crucial to help us on the way to winning at work and in life.

Stop Paying the Dysfunctional Tax: Your Simple Guide to Productive Resistance

The Day I Said No to My CEO

A few years ago, while I was working in one of the foreign countries on my list, someone from head office sent me a meeting invite. It didn't have an agenda, and the title did not seem like it required my presence. So, I rejected the meeting invite.

Then I got a call from the guy who sent the invite. He could not explain why I needed to be at the meeting. I told him I was not going to attend – even after he dropped the CEO's name as an attendee at the meeting.

Understanding the Dysfunctional Tax

Why did I play hard-to-get?

It's the way I keep myself from paying the Dysfunctional Tax that comes from working in an office.

I didn't make that word up – Dysfunctional Tax in the workplace is something that exists.

In simple terms, it's essentially the extra time, energy, and resources spent addressing problems that arise from dysfunction rather than focusing on productivity and achieving goals.

The Courage to Break Free

I chose not to attend that meeting because:

1. True productivity isn't about being in every meeting – it's about being in the right ones
2. Sometimes, breaking dysfunctional patterns requires courage and might feel uncomfortable

The Hidden Career Killers

Letting yourself continually pay the Dysfunctional Tax may lead to career suicide:

1. Credibility Erosion

Every time you participate in unproductive activities because "that's just how things are done here," you're reinforcing ineffective patterns and diminishing your professional brand.

2.The Compound Effect

That 2.8 hours per week? Over a year, that's nearly three work weeks of lost productivity. Over a career? We're talking years of potential growth and impact, vanishing into the ether of workplace dysfunction.

3.The Mediocrity Trap

And most insidiously, it normalizes mediocrity. When we accept dysfunction as the status quo, we're not just wasting time – we're actively contributing to a culture that values presence over impact, activity over achievement.

Your Liberation Plan: 3 Steps to Freedom

But here's the good news: You can stop paying this tax today. Here's your 3-step action plan:

1. Conduct a Dysfunction Audit

Take a week to track every instance where you encounter workplace dysfunction. Note the type (unnecessary meetings, unclear communications, redundant processes), the time cost, and most importantly, the potential alternative value you could have created.

2. Calculate Your Personal Tax Rate

Add up the hours spent on dysfunctional activities and multiply by your hourly rate. This is your personal Dysfunctional Tax. Now, imagine reinvesting that time and energy into high-impact work that advances your career.

3. Implement Strategic Resistance

Choose one dysfunctional pattern to break each month. Start small – decline one unnecessary meeting, streamline one inefficient process, or clarify one ambiguous responsibility. Document the results and build from there.

The Path Forward

Remember, this isn't about being difficult or uncooperative. It's about being intentional with your most precious resource – your time and energy. It's about having the courage to challenge the status quo when it's draining value rather than creating it.

Your career is too valuable to waste on workplace dysfunction. Take that first step today. Audit your week, calculate your tax, and choose one pattern to break. Then come back and tell me what happened. Together, we can build workplaces where performance is measured by impact, not by how well we navigate dysfunction.

What's the first dysfunctional pattern you're going to tackle this week?

Keep Winning at work and in life.

Tola Akinsulire

I am a Workplace Multiplier

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Want to get in on some of the lessons I have picked up in my career? Get my eBook "21 Lessons I Learned in My Career - A Primer to Help You Become Better at Work". Get it here

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