I'm in Thailand at the moment, for three weeks of backpacking. To capture the experience, I've bought a minicamcorder and am making short vlogs about the sights, sounds and experiences I'm encountering. So if you're interested:
http://www.youtube.com/user/tiamat84
At the moment I’m in the midst of a project where things seem to be going awry with every turn. Approaching a point where both sides are feeling resented about the whole situation and formalities are being thrown at each other. All coming down to: “In our opinion, this isn’t what we agreed upon and you have it wrong.”
Where two parties are feeling this way, both are sharing part of the blame - obviously. It is when one party doesn’t want to reconcile, that it turns nasty. When the want of a solution is being exchanged for the want of an argument, the problem isn’t the absence of a solution anymore, but the bigger problem of having the argument.
How did this happen, I’m asking myself. Different expectations are what it all comes down to. Now it is becoming apparent that on the other side there is no realistic idea about the work involved with the project. Their assumptions are way off, trivializing our efforts and exasperation at the idea that more time is needed.
We were on a tight deadline to begin with, but we could make it if everything went exactly as planned. Of course, they didn’t and now more work is involved. Unfortunately the impression is still that we’ll get it done in the same time regardless. Like… no. So it’s up to me to go out there again and try to coax and reason for more time. Wish me luck!
This morning I gave a presentation at my former job, for old times' sake and fun. The cool thing is: they recorded my presentation together with my slides and placed it online for the world to enjoy.
So if you want to take a look:
Click here!
(presentation is in Dutch)
2 weeks ago I was rock-bottom. Yes, truly. I felt completely out of control, not on top of things and scared stiff by the amount of things that needed to be done. I felt busy, busy, busy, I felt responsible and needed: "It will all fall to pieces if I don't finish this or that on time!" However much I was feeling stressed out, I did feel as if I had a purpose.
Now the storm is over. I'm back in charge and everything is back in order. I'm now feeling the complete opposite of myself 2 weeks ago. I took the advice to heart about protecting my time, focusing on priorities and delegating things that can be delegated. As a result, everything is running smoothly, everybody is confident about what needs to be done and I'm on schedule for all my projects.
Wonderful! Or so it should feel. But it doesn't! I feel useless! A slack! Puzzled by this paradoxical feeling, a time-management concept hit me: the tension between urgency and importance.
In our current work ethic urgency often gets misunderstood as importance. We all know days where time just seems to fly by, but at the end of the day we ask ourselves: "What did I actually do?" Those are Urgent days. Of course some of the things you've done were important, but I can guarantee you that a large portion of your day consisted of unimportant stuff. It felt urgent, but in reality it was just something distracting. Urgency is also something external: something breaks down, people fall ill, budgets get cut, a deadline needs to be moved etc. Urgency triggers a fight or flight reaction so to say: we are triggered into taking action.
Urgency overrules Importance. It's human. Also, when I applied some crude mathematics, it became even more clear. Let's say we give scores to the different categories of the matrix. The higher the score, the better it is to spend time on this category:
See what happens? Spending time on non-urgent matters is 'statistically' not preferable. When we concern ourselves with non-urgent but important matters, there always looms the impression that we are concerning ourselves with non-urgent and unimportant things, the worst category to spend time on. The safer option therefore would be to spend time on urgent matters, be they important or unimportant.
But I refuse to give in! I'm not going for safe. I'll keep trying to keep those urgent matters under control and focus on my important but non-urgent work. Because by doing so, I'm making sure my important, but non urgent work won't creep up on me and suddenly become urgent!
From what I have seen these past few weeks, we have an incredibly competent and diverse team of professionals on board at my new job. Still, sometimes things go off-road. The last couple of days I have been really busy with dragging one of these out of the dirt - a very nasty and dirty business.
It reminds me a lot of similar occasions in former jobs. The tricky thing with dragging something out of the dirt is making sure you cause as little friction as possible. Like a car that is stuck, too much spinning and too much friction cause only harm and no good. You dig yourself in deeper and deeper, until only a display of real power will be able to drag you out: a tow truck. Tow trucks however, are expensive and take time to arrive. Time and money you don’t always have.
Making a correct assessment of how deep you are stuck is therefore essential before any intervention. Unfortunately we tend to assess risks lower than they actually are, when we are in the face of an emergency or urgency: “I don’t have the time and money for a tow truck – I have to get out now!” So we set out and try to get out ourselves, with disastrous results. We’re digging ourselves in deeper, more time and more money is seeping away and by the minute it will become clearer and clearer: “We need that truck!”
The thing I’m currently working on has fallen prey to one of those infamous bad assessments. It seemed pretty straight forward, it looked like no big deal, but it is becoming apparent that the devil really is in the details. And with time pressing heavily on us, those details are costing us dearly. We simply don’t have the time to be extremely thorough on the last details. But every time we are in contact with the client it’s all about those details.
And they have every right. We made a bad assessment – now we have to deal with it. This basically means that over the weekend I’ll be sifting through the project again, again and again. Monday. Monday it will all be over – hopefully…
Change is a force of nature: its impact is hard and unstoppable.
No wonder change is a fearful concept for most people. Changing takes effort, it forces adjustments, and brings uncertainty and insecurity. Who would opt for that - willingly?! Therefore, most changes force themselves on us. Sometimes by our own doing, but just as often, without any of our own interference. Relationships end, family members die, babies are born, cars crash, companies fold, departments reorganize, new competitors enter the market, innovations make current technologies obsolete. Change just happens.
Resisting change is therefore futile, but still quite understandable behaviour. When moving through change, a common change management model is the concept of the unfreeze-freeze. First, the current situation must be unfrozen, then the situation must be altered to fit the new desired situation and as soon as this happens, that situation should be frozen again and voilà! The change has occurred.
Unfortunately, that only happens in fairy tales. Oft-times "unfreezing" isn't a gentle defrosting experience on a low wattage in the microwave, but a solid heatwave blasting through. Leaving us charred and vulnerable. How would you react to that? Like anybody would in times of trauma: with denial and resistance. When you or your company is the one forcing change, you should be well aware of this. You are making the change, you are seeing the direction you are heading, you are ready to mould the new situation as soon as everything is unfrozen. But for everybody else you are an unstoppable trauma that is washing over them.
So be humble. Be honest. Be understanding. Help people to see where this is heading. Don't resist or deny the resistance and denial of change that will occur. Because than the pot is calling the kettle black. Realize, that just like they must come to terms with the change, you should adjust to their resistance. Because if you don't, the only thing this change of yours will become, is a big lump of defrosted goo.
I’m a child from Generation Y. Born in Orwell’s ominous year 1984, I belong to a generation which, according to the media, has known only prosperity, opportunity and security. We are demanding, independent and have high expectations of what we’ll accomplish in life (up until the current Great Recession of course). Happiness is supposed to be our middle name, with all this wealth, health and boundless opportunity surrounding us.
Nowadays there seems to be a taboo on the darker sides of life. Every day we have to: “Be more!”, ”Be better!”, ”Be great!”, “Be rich!”, “Be good!”, “Be the best!”Everything around us screams in our face to Be some superlative. But I’m not great. I’m not rich and I’m not the best. Can’t I just Be, without the add-ons?
Why do we have to always move from good to great? I would like to sometimes just take a step back and go from good to good-enough. Take a break; take the lesser in things in life as they are. Or maybe be like the carpenter in a sketch by Rembo & Rembo:
A man passes a garage door with a note on it:
“Lookin for work? Knock on the door.”
The man knocks and waits.
An anxious looking carpenter opens the door slightly.
“Yes?”
“Ehh.. I saw this note on your door and well.. I’m looking for work.”
“Ah yes, the note. It’s just that, unfortunately, I’m not here today. Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow, I might be here.”
And he closes the door, leaving the man completely puzzled in front of his door.
Every once in a while, I think it’s good for everyone to say to the world we’re not here today, but that we’ll be back tomorrow - maybe.
