I am a reed in the wind

By James Costello 

Animals can smell fear and sense panic. It also seems to be imbedded in our sub-primal responses, as evidenced by mob rioting or crowds of people once panic begins to spread. These same responses can be seen everyday in working life. For example, recently I worked with two coworkers to resolve a client issue. The two completely different reactions to the same situation were interesting: one was growing very frustrated – red face and all — with the process and quickly judged it to be a time-wasting “repetitive reinstall.” The other seized this as an opportunity to learn more about the program. As the clock ticked closer to the deadline, the predictable happened: office tension syndrome. — a huge explosion, tempers flaring, unkind, unproductive words exchanged. Able to step back, I realized this episode did little for the client, created a lot of stress and cost us time. We lost the time and could not get it back.  

Sadly, sub-primal urges that kept us alive a few thousand years ago offer little help in our cubicled, technologically driven worlds. In fact these same responses are contributing to loss of productive, dissatisfaction in our work, low moral among teams, and poor health. There will always be deadlines, what we need is a more efficient and effective response to slaying our modern day wooly mammoths. Instead of resorting to panic and anger, dear reader, consider the following quotes as they relate to our reactions. 

“It is said that despite its many glaring (and occasionally fatal) inaccuracies, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy itself has outsold the Encyclopedia Galactica <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia_Galactica>  because it is slightly cheaper, and because it has the words “Don’t Panic” in large, friendly letters on the cover” 

This situation brought to mind one of my favorite lines from Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe -I had one coworker panicking and one who was practicing “Don’t Panic.” Not panicking is one of the cornerstones of surviving any day in a modern, fast paced office.  

“I will bend like a reed in the wind.”

The second quote comes from the battle between Paul and Feyd-Rautha. Paul chose that the fight would be fair and only physical in nature. As the battle progresses, Feyd-Rautha attempts to use a poison blade hidden within his clothing to defeat Paul. Paul recognizes that he can defeat Feyd-Rautha if he is able to use Feyd-Rautha’s body to his own favor. Going back to my coworkers, it would have been easy for the one who was not panicking to give in and start over reacting like his work mate.  Instead he chose to take in what the other person was saying, recognize that it was not personal and allow the “storm” generated by the others frustration to pass over him.

The second tenet to survival in the modern fast paced office is to not overreact but bend. (And, no I am not talking about bending your co worker so he fits in his locker…perhaps that will make it into the next article.)   

So now dear reader is an opportunity to use the two tenets of survival in modern life and have a more productive, less stressful time at work (and at home).  Consider the following three ways to follow the two tenets:

1. Break down tasks into smaller workable junks.

It’s amazing how overwhelming a big project can seem. For example, painting your entire house is going to seem overwhelming until you break it down into sections and determine how long it will take to do each individual section. You are still doing the same amount of work, it’s just broken up into manageable sections. My wife and I recently implemented a 30 minute per night chore time for our house. This allows us to get all of the chores that were getting left for the weekend done before the weekend, so that we can either work on another project or go do something fun. Another way of looking at a break down would be to take a task you don’t like doing and work on it for 30 minutes and then move on to something else for a while and revisit the first task again later. 

2. Delegate the work you hate or don’t have time to do.

I am pretty good at fixing things around the house, but I have some really high sections on my house that have wood rot (its Kansas City, it happens). It is better for me hire someone else to come out to fix those issues than to try to do them myself. While I paint the inside of my house, I now rely on someone else to make sure the outside gets fixed.  

3. Ask for assistance.

I have been very guilty of this over my career in large part due to being a consultant for so long. I was brought into resolve the problems and was told by a couple of different managers to not ask the customer for more information or for assistance in the completion of tasks. My job was much easier when I started asking questions about the environment rather than attempting to uncover all of the information on my own. So how do you get started asking for help?  I usually attempt to find the person who is most knowledgeable about the environment and ask their help.  Typically this person is also in high demand because of this knowledge, so sometimes it will be a better personal and political move to go to someone who works regularly with your first choice.
 

It is possible to deal with those overwhelming tasks, those wooly mammoths in the closet.  The reactions that helped humans to survive over the ages aren’t necessarily the best solutions for modern offices.  I’ll leave you with two quotes:  “Who’s evolved, Lawrence?  Who’s evolved?” from Night at the Museum and also remember: DON’T PANIC