Tag: change

Sit or stand

FabrizioLeave a comment

In the face of adversity, we can sit down and complain, or stand up and do something.

A couple of things.

Sitting down and complaining makes us complicit in the adversity. If it was not our fault to begin with, it is after we make the decision to merely sit there. It does not matter if we do it because we are desperate or because we have no clue where to start from.

Standing up and doing something is always possible, even after having sat down and complained for a while. It might be to late to manage the adversity, and in that case doing something is about taking responsibility, measuring the damages, showing a way forward.

One way or the other, it is an active choice we need to make.

Disappointment

FabrizioLeave a comment

Disappointment is about anticipated rewards.

Sometimes the anticipated rewards are the result of our ambitions, aspirations, dreams, desires, experiences. We are active part in building up our expectations, to the point that it often becomes impossible for the actual thing to satisfy them.

Sometimes they are set by others with their ads, content, hype-building tactics, public relations, supposed culture. They prepare a mental image for us that buys us in and eventually turns out to be just too good to be true.

Disappointment is a fundamental part of life. The first type helps us stay grounded, adjust our course, understand how things work. The second type tells us about relationships, who to trust, to what extent and in which circumstances.

And most of all, disappointment is a reminder that while we often govern the inputs, we have little to no power over the outcomes.

That is fine.

Bridge

FabrizioLeave a comment

When one gets squeezed between two opposing forces, it is quite usual to start depicting both forces as enemies.

Lousy middle management is a great representation of this.

Middle managers are at the crossroads of contrasting needs and ambitions, and the result can easily get to “management has unreasonable expectations” and “my team is lazy and ineffective“.

Of course, this is a divisive approach. Soon enough everybody hates everybody, nobody is happy, and things never get done.

Being in the middle, though, also means having the opportunity to build a bridge. To stop and sit down and listen to what those needs and ambitions are about, help each part to formulate them in a way that makes sense to the other, and finding ways to be helpful and support action in a common direction.

It takes time, energy, and a lot of confidence in ourselves and others. And it always pays off.

Extend your hand

FabrizioLeave a comment

When there is tension, when you feel those that are not on your side are simply too far away, when talking is arguing, when it seems impossible to find common ground.

Extend your hand.

A small step

FabrizioLeave a comment

When you talk about change, you might get a lot of resistance or a lot of cheering. Most likely, a mix of the two.

In both cases though, you are not one step closer to the change you are seeking.

And that is because telling about change is only one small step on a highway that also features telling about change again, finding supporters and aids, telling once more, showing what change is, buying in those who are against it, preparing everyone for change, reshaping the change story and spread it a bit farther, measuring change, following up to change, and initiating what comes after change.

A meeting or an email might be a good start, they are never the end of it. Even when everyone agrees. Particularly when everybody agrees.