Changing How We Work

Yesterday I came across a common situation at work and was frustrated mostly by how simple it seemed to make a change. A colleague finds himself feeling stuck, caught in a position between a demanding and sometimes irrational boss and a team that is dissatisfied and distrustful. The team has had many changes ‘thrust’ upon them over the last few months, many of which they did not anticipate. They are working hard but feel that at any moment expectations will change and all the hard work they have put in towards their current goal will be undervalued at best, thrown out completely at worst. To them, the decisions coming from upper management seem random, haphazard and unpredictable. It’s easy to imagine how a team in this situation could quickly feel marginalized and undervalued. One of their biggest complaints is that this manager, while sympathetic to their plight, also has to please the boss and sometimes seems as much an enemy as a friend.

This, to me, represents an enormous opportunity for change! So often in the work environment but also elsewhere in our lives, we ‘play the game’ or do what we feel is expected of us because we don’t think we can do it differently. We continue, stuck in a rut (or on an EQ escalator.) The only part of this equation that the manager has absolute control over is his role; his thoughts, his feelings and ultimately, his actions. By recognizing this and acting on it, he will effect change not just for himself but for everyone involved. There are many options here for him here: Have a conversation with his boss about how his team really feels. Have a conversation with his team about how he, as their manager, really feels. It seems that it is not that having these conversations is hard, it is realizing that we CAN have these conversations that is hard.

What stops him from doing this? Fear of an unknown outcome? Perhaps, but when it’s clear that the situation as it is now is stagnant, there is little to lose and much to gain. When others are touched by the honesty of our feelings and emotions, they often respond by being honest with their emotions as well. Couldn’t this change everything in the workplace? EQ skills, not just IQ. Emotions are contagious, change might be too?