How do you take personal responsibility to overcome behaviours that aren't helpful?
Eirik raised this question in the context of being aware of and trusting oneself and the following is an attempt to answer this drawing from my own experience which informed the related piece on Navigating Trust, Presence and Personal responsibility in the Workplace.
Of course, it does depend on the context so I will attempt to highlight general patterns to make this practical.
I have identified a number of unhelpful behaviours but framed this in terms of the interior emotional response from you as a business analyst.
Before we look at this it is important to understand the work context and whether it is one that prioritises reputation over collaboration and collective success. If it is the former, it is important to recognize there are a range of choices available to us which include, at one extreme, leaving the contract or particular project.
Some of the signs of an unhealthy culture are listed on the Business Unusual website. Read more here.
For example
everyone is 'nice' - people feel they don't want to (or can't) raise issues or healthy challenge
water cooler culture - gossip is rife
long hours culture
lack of compassion for others (e.g. quick to judge and assume the worst, no time taken to explore)
no means to influence policies and procedures
staff disagreements are not prioritised
bullying
not feeling safe to speak out
cultural norms encourage group think
frustrated or upset employees leave
employees are disengaged
It is unhealthy in the sense that individual success in the form of promotion will be prioritised over open collaboration; sharing of information and protecting relationships for the success of a project.
It may be unhealthy in other ways (e.g. managing instead of leading and empowering) but this it too big a topic to explore in this article.
Having explored this and assessed the nature of the project culture (the project culture may differ from the organisational culture - the example is set by individuals with seniority), it is now possible to take personal responsibility and make grounded decisions.
I am assuming unhelpful behaviour emerges and shows itself in different ways which may include:
The project is going ‘wrong’ in some way (not meeting deadlines, stakeholder tension/conflict)
You receive bad feedback (directly or indirectly)
You are advised what you should do or suggestions are made (typically from someone in power)
These feelings may arise:
uncertain or doubtful
anxious
Taking personal responsibility is acting appropriately when our body is giving us warning signs.
The message is to pause and to understand what this means. Something is not right.
The common reaction which our culture reinforces is to think through the problem and find a logical answer. In so doing we ignore the feelings which are actually a signal from our subconscious.
When we pause and get curious, we give ourselves time to process the emotion and allow us to become consciously aware of what this feeling is signifying.
This might be an insight into the nature of the problem or an intuition as to our best next step.
In practical terms, step away from the desk, find some quiet space, preferably in a more natural space which will be conducive to allowing these insights to emerge.
It is important to be kind to ourselves in this way. The insights won’t emerge if we double down on thinking our way through. In fact, this is likely to increase the anxiety as we ignore the subconscious emotional signals.
One analogy is to imagine that we are driving a car which is us and ignoring the readout which says that we are running low on fuel and just pushing ahead. Eventually we will come to a stop.
If this is unfamiliar it is helpful to find someone who is experienced in this way of working and able to support.
One useful practice is to reflect and pay attention to one’s internal state. For example, is the heart beating fast?
Another practice is to ask ‘what do I need?’
This leads to finding one’s own answers. Advice from others is counter-productive as it applies to a different person in a different context. It is often confusing and distracting and will sometimes trigger further doubt and self-judgement about ‘what I should have done’.
Or it may trigger fear of adopting an approach with which you are unfamiliar but is being recommended as the solution (this can be difficult if someone with authority is recommending this).
Developing the capability to find one’s own answers; using anxiety and doubt as important signals to find the way forward is a game changer.
The alternative is to ignore the difficult emotions which will be amplified and severely limit your performance.
The Blackbelt Flow Practices support being more present and curious about our inner emotional state. They also help build capacity (keeping your fuel tank topped up) and having a strategy to respond to feelings of overwhelm.
here.
This is the second of 4 articles. The other articles are:
Navigating Trust, Presence, and Personal Responsibility in the Workplace
What can the natural world (ecosystems) teach us about the nature of trust?
The proudest moment of your professional working life
(I would like to thank Eirik Netland, Duncan Bremner, Barry Farnworth and Jerry Nicholas for taking the time to engage with conversations around this on LinkedIn, to influence my thinking and shape the content. The original article that started the exploration is The Skills that REALLY make the difference)
Share this post