Are you to blame?

Automotive Design & Production, June, 2004 by Ted Pollock

When things go wrong on a job, the all-too-human tendency is to look outside ourselves for the villain. But the truth is that we ourselves are often the principal bottleneck.

How? By failing to follow through ... refusing to compromise ... trying to do too many things at once ... complaining too much.

The remedies:

Follow through. Projects need to be pushed--continuously. If, after initializing a plan, you wait for things to happen, you will almost surely be disappointed. Take a close look at your current impasse. Check to be sure that your own foot isn't on the brake.

Give a little. We frequently cling to an idea, fearful that the slightest alteration will ruin it. We brook no criticism and will not yield one inch. But in the process we may be precluding the one move that would crack a hole through the barrier.

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Suppose we give our opponents a chance this way: "Do you have any suggestions?" "I'd welcome your opinion on this." "Maybe the plan ought to be modified in some way."

By giving people a chance to lodge an objection or point out an oversight, you may succeed in disarming them whether or not they have anything to contribute. Your demonstrated willingness to make concessions and weigh others' ideas may prove to be a strategy that will make concessions unnecessary.

Concentrate on one problem at a time. When you try to knock over several hurdles at once, you are likely to find that none topples easily. Select the hurdle that is blocking your most important goal and work intensively on that one first. When that one has been removed, turn to another.

Don't broadcast the problem. You'd be surprised how few people beside yourself know about the specific problems confronting you. Unless there is some advantage in getting your idea before a committee, don't magnify the problem by broadcasting it indiscriminately.

Take the impasse in your stride. Few achievements worth anything are made without running into frustration, criticism, argument and resistance. We might argue that the more daring the idea, the greater that resistance is apt to be. Recognize from the beginning that the hurdles that others put in your way will be perceived for what they are--additional parts of the problem.

Don't let them get you down. Belief in your ability to prevail, a positive attitude--but not stubbornness for its own sake--will enable you to avoid one of the greatest roadblocks to achievement--yourself and your attitudes.

A Cure for the Obnoxious Employee

Employees occasionally exhibit unattractive traits. Some may be egotists who can't accept the fact that they can learn from others. Some may be so ambitious, they think that undermining another worker is part of the accepted state of affairs. And some may look down on those who are lower than they in the corporate hierarchy and treat them with obvious disdain. In short, some employees are downright obnoxious. Most eventually get their comeuppance, but others seem to get away with murder month after month. What can you do?

1. Most people learn the penalty of misbehaving by feeling the hard knocks that others give them when they behave that way. Letting them get the cold shoulder from colleagues, or being left out of the social niceties of the work group, is one way. Obnoxiousness as a system of establishing worth is a self-perpetuating pattern of behavior. If it works once, it will be tried again. If it produces only hard knocks or slapped wrists, however, it will be used with more reluctance and, perhaps, eventually abandoned.

2. For the person who has an advanced case that is causing overall productivity and quality to suffer, there is no cure unless the individual recognizes the condition and tries to control it. Normally, the individual's manager can point out that his or her work and personal progress are being adversely affected by these tantrums, and can seek agreement that the condition exists and needs improvement. This is often slow work and occasional lapses are to be expected, coupled with some guilt afterwards. Failing this, the manager might seek professional help.

3. In one case, a competent young sales manager for a large company was suffering from a case of massive egotism. His selling record was admittedly excellent. But he undertook to tell development, engineering, manufacturing and just about every other department about their shortcomings. Not wishing to lose his excellent abilities, but pressed for action by a number of people, the general manager rotated him into a position as plant manager. After two months of trying to apply some of his methods there, he asked to be sent back to sales, a chastened and wiser man. The plant did not really suffer because the people at the next lower level had kept things going in spite of him. They had also contributed greatly to his maturation by pointing out the effects of his impulsive and ill-formed decisions.

Not everyone can receive such valuable and quick training, but the principle is sound. An unjustified feeling of superiority can be brought into line by putting the individual in a spot where he or she can taste failure and, just maybe, grow acquainted with that old-fashioned but important quality, humility.