It’s not my problem. The problem is them.

It’s not my problem. The problem is them.

The story about Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody is one of the most popular blogs on ciChange (Link Below). How do we overcome the biggest challenges including the attitude of “It’s not my problem” and “the problem is them”.

THE PROBLEM

I have often come across managers tearing their hair out because “them upstairs” have made bad decisions without understanding the issues. There are many bosses who despair of their colleagues in different departments who do “things” without consultation or checking.

THE CHALLENGE

When I ask, have you been to see them, pick-up the phone, arranged a meeting, suggested a coffee the replies vary around a theme: It’s not my problem. The variations maybe it’s not my budget, not my speciality, not my responsibility, not my authority but if they are whinging about it then it seems to me to be their problem! What amazes me is that they are not empowered, motivated, able to do anything about it.

PICK YOUR ROLE

In such circumstances I often ask one of the following questions. The response can be enlightening!

Q1 Are you a leader or a follower?
Q2 If you had to describe your role in one sentence what would it be?
Q3 Who do you work for?

Q1 is interesting because many managers react like a rabbit in the spotlight. They all like to be seen as a leader, but in reality are more comfortable playing the role of “poor me” rather than showing leadership in resolving the problems. People are good at playing roles: drama queen, bully boy, super hero, geek. We play roles in school and are fascinated by roles on TV, and gossip about characters at work and on social media. Interestingly if you persuade someone that they need to be the leader they have enough experience from TV, films, soaps, and life to know the role even if they are not practiced at playing it. it doesn’t take too much coaching to persuade them provided the stakes are high enough for it to be worth the effort.

Q2 can be useful to reminding people why they are there and to focus on the role (outcome) rather than the job (tasks). This can help people realise the importance of doing what-ever is necessary to deliver the outputs rather than whinge about the process. It can also be polarizing: if they answer this badly then people might question the need to have them at all. If they answer well it provides a surge of passion, pride and hopefully action.

Q3 is very informative in-so-far-as it helps understand their loyalty and affiliation. Variations on the question may reveal that they work for “The Customer”, they might work for their “Employer” or they might work for their “Profession”. One person could answer I am an accountant, I am in the public sector, I work for XYZ Organisation but which answer they choose tells us something about them and how they see themselves. This often informs me about how to motivate them, because they’ve told me something about their values and identity.

JOINING THE CAST

When it comes to management and leadership you are either a participant or a spectator and if you are a spectator, just like watching TV you don’t have much say in the drama except to laugh, cry, shout or scream at what you see unfold.

As a Project and Change Leaders it is our job to help managers overcome stage-fright and help them learn their lines and get them to interact with the rest of the cast. Getting them to answer Q1, Q2 and Q3 is the first step in your role as “Casting Director” to assemble the production and will greatly help them in understanding their role and its dependence on the other actors for meaning and context.

Don’t under-estimate the role of “Casting Director”, the right person in the wrong role is a disaster and unhelpful to all concerned. Supporting Wayne Rooney in Goal, or Lewis Hamilton at Basketball, is gonna be hard work, but if as Project and Change Leaders you can get the right people in the right positions or roles then you will have an unbeatable team who can overcome any problem.

LINKS

If you liked the article above you might also like the following
http://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2013/06/this-is-story-about-four-people.html
http://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2014/03/forget-having-think-tank-be-part-of-do.html
http://projectspeoplechange.blogspot.com/2013/05/who-would-play-you-in-movie.html

THE AUTHOR

Tim Rogers is an experienced Project and Change Leader. He is founder of www.ciChange.org and curator for www.TEDxStHelier.Com (next event 11 April 2014). He is Programme Manager for the commercialization of Jersey Harbours and Jersey Airport. He is also Commonwealth Triathlete and World Championships Rower with a passion for teaching and learning and is a Tutor/Mentor on the Chartered Management Institute courses.

Email: TimHJRogers@AdaptConsultingGroup.com
Mob: 07797762051 | Twitter @timhjrogers | Skype timhjrogers

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