Just One Thing
The “Just One Thing” series is predicated on the assumption that change takes place one step at a time. Like throwing a pebble into a pond, your one small action can have a far-reaching ripple effect at work for you, your firm and of course, in your personal life.
Just about all of us are guilty of delaying dealing with a tough topic in our professional lives. These tend to be the gut churning, stare at the ceiling at night type issues that if addressed, will force us to confront our fears, admit our mistakes, move away from the known towards the unknown and generally unsettle ourselves and potentially those around us.
Processing time…that time when we do nothing but think is natural. Avoiding the tough topic seems to be a human characteristic. As a species, it’s the exception not the rule for us to walk directly into something we view as dangerous. (Many do it, but many more don’t.)
Eventually, however, we have to face and deal with the difficult issue or we risk damaging our external reputation and our internal self-esteem.
10 Tough Workplace Issues We Love to Delay:
1. Hiring and Firing
2. Negative (constructive) feedback discussions with our team members.
3. Reaching out and rebuilding an important bridge we burned.
4. Admitting we were wrong and agreeing with someone else’s viewpoint on a big issue.
5. Admitting the project or strategy has failed and proposing to pull the plug instead of throwing more money at the situation.
6. Accepting the need for change.
7. Getting invested in supporting change.
8. Taking the time to help an employee on their career development.
9. Blowing up a good team or organization to make it better.
10. Accepting that the glory days are gone and won’t ensure success in the future…and then doing something about it.
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Processing time is over. Start working on one tough issue in your professional life today. Don’t make a plan to work on it, that’s just a sophisticated form of delaying the hard work. Most solutions to tough issues start with a conversation somewhere. Pick up the phone, write the note or walk down the hall and kick the phenomenon that Pressfield calls “resistance” in his book, “War of Art,” right in the teeth.
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Art,
This is a potent list! It struck me that every one of these items fits into the category of “not wanting to change the status quo.” You highlight how strong the urge is to remain in the current situation, even though we KNOW we should address it. Individuals and organizations fall into this trap.
Creating a culture for change, whether it’s organizational or personal is a courageous process, one that requires a strong will and persistence.
Thanks for your post.
–Ed
Ed,this is absolutely an organizational and individual problem. Well said! Thanks for reading and commenting. -Art
Art –
This is a great post. There are so many times in our work and personal lives that we would like to bury our heads in the sand and just hope that a problem will just go away. It is human nature to avoid change and confrontation. All of the points that you listed are spot on. Personally, I have found that the more you avoid these situations, the worse it gets. As you said, don’t sit and plan on how to you should work on a problem, get up and face it. As difficult as it is, you always feel better in the long run for taking charge and being courageous.
-Janet
Janet, it’s great to see you here on the blog! I absolutely agree on the more you avoid it, the worse it gets. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts. -Art
Interestingly enough, I find the times that I can’t get to sleep and lay staring at the ceiling are more often the times that I am addressing the tough topic and excited about the change, not delaying it. I may be tired the next day but I find those times exhilarating!
I’m all for exhilaration any way we can get it. I lose sleep on both sides of that coin! Thanks for commenting, Matt! -Art