There’s a Reason for Everything...
Bold statement but true - especially regarding human employee interactions at work. However, most issues, struggles, and conflicts in the workplace are human in nature. So where is the overlap between human beings and employees?
Professional protocol is a necessary component in any organization and needs to be universally adopted by employees in order to have a cohesive expectation of performance and business. Agreed-upon standards like work product, conduct, wardrobing (dress codes) and mission statements provide an overall unified expectation of “professionalism.”
However, having these protocols does not mean we stop being human beings when we become employees.
Standards, job descriptions, organizational charts, and line-of-reporting structures are great on their face, but add to that the “human” factor and things get interesting. Different and discordant communication styles, implicit biases, assumptions about “how things ought to be done,” fear of offending, not having the right words to express feelings professionally, not feeling safe, fear of pissing off your boss, miscommunications (between generations, teams, people, staff, management), ineffective communication between departments who work collaboratively, issues between co-workers, “because I said so” thinking, and actions taken without explaining WHY a decision has been made, procrastination, lack of timeliness, frustration, irritation, and work styles different from your own, ALL represent the human element at work and literally have the potential to upend or derail an effective and efficient organization.
For a moment, let’s remove the emotions these hiccups can cause and look at a fact: No one wakes up in the morning and says to themself, “I’m going to do the worst job today, be the most annoying employee, and actively attempt to sabotage my team and work environment,” and yet, this sometimes happens.
Awareness that these issues exist in an organization is fairly universal - ask anyone - but why? And what can we do about these issues? Welcome to FIG. These are the very concepts we employ to aid understanding in order to implement lasting interactive changes in your organization. Let’s get started in shifting the way we think.
There are reasons for everything: psychological reasons, sociological reasons, differing approaches to work, attitudes, environments, and life experiences are all reasons that all creep into a professional setting. Plus, we are ALL different: the culmination of each of our own unique backgrounds, history, work experience, culture, and qualifications.
We are not psychiatrists at Future Image Group, but we DO know, empirically, that learning to tease emotions from facts can keep us out of trouble. Understanding the difference between reacting instead of thoughtfully, consciously, and intentionally responding to a situation can help us avoid all manner of misunderstanding and choosing our words to communicate exactly what we want to say, to whom we’re saying it, and thinking about our intention for doing so, can go miles in avoiding clashes in office communication. We should ask ourselves, “What do we want to impart and what do we want the recipient to take away?” Empathy and understanding, appreciation for the uniqueness of others, asking clarifying questions instead of making assumptions, practicing clear, concise, and well thought out communication, setting clear expectations (I could go on and on) all are SO important to bear in mind at work but in our fast paced world, we often forget to practice them. These are skills in the “technology of human beings”, as it were, and are FIG’s core base in our curriculum and OUR mission: to highlight, to talk about, to teach, to guide and to practice.
Next time you’re annoyed with a co-worker, tempted to come down on an employee, or frustrated with a higher-up’s decisions, try not to react. Take a Breath. Think about WHY they did what they did and WHY it affects you the way it does. By creating this space for yourself, you might find yourself responding in a thoughtful, intentional way, and even get your point across without ruffling feathers or causing someone to be defensive (which only perpetuates the assumption cycle). When we all make these conscious changes, the improvement in communication is irrefutable. Try it; You might like the results.
Until next time…...