Whose job are you doing?

One of the things I like about working as an actor is that everyone has a defined role - actors and crew. This is true of most creative ventures. Everyone has a defined role and generally the team allows everyone to perform their defined role without interference. The Director doesn't try to do the work of the actors, the actors don't interfere with the lighting rig, the stage manager doesn't take over from the producer.

It's a great example to consider for teams in other settings who may struggle with a leader who likes to "get their hands dirty" or the control freak who tells other people what to do. Working in these settings also provides a great lesson trust: trust that everyone else will do their job effectively.

This week I've been working on a project with a mix of actors and nurses. The nurses are "playing the role" of nurses. I've noticed that they are mistrustful that others are doing their jobs. I'm used to waiting where I'm told by whoever is in charge of the production and then moving when they tell me to. One of the nurses was consistently telling me where I was supposed to be. I later noticed that she was also perpetually worried about where people were and who was in charge of one of the sound effects. The sound effect had malfunctioned a couple of times during the day. My response is to make sure I know what my alternative queue is if the sound effect fails. This particular nurse's response was to round people up and question what was happening with the sound effect as we were walking out to start the scene. Upon suggestion that she just needed to focus on her job, she became very tense and responded that she just needed to be sure that there was someone doing it and that they would do their job properly.

I found this fascinating. While she was focusing on other roles, it meant that she wasn't paying attention to her own.

This kind of behaviour could be a cancer in a team and, as with many behaviours, it's often created by the leader. I've noticed that when a leader has been promoted from their area of technical expertise into their leadership role they often drift back to the comfort zone of their expertise. This is often described to me as a virtue - they're prepared to "muck in" with their team and work alongside them. There's nothing wrong with that if it's a conscious choice and the consequences of this choice are understood.

My next question is usually "When you're "mucking in" who's doing your job?"

Leadership is a role within a team or organisation. If the leader is busy on operational matters, then they aren't leading. This choice, like every choice a leader makes, creates behaviour within the team. Is it useful behaviour or is it unhelpful?

Back on set with the nurse I suggested that she relax and just focus on her assigned role and let everyone else do the same. She looked at me like I was crazy.

Do you trust others to do their job? Are you focused on your job or are you worried about everyone else?

I made a mistake today and I told the world.

You know that feeling when you think there's something you've forgotten, but don't know what it is? It's a niggly kind of feeling, but worrying the niggle does nothing to uncover the forgotten thing. Today my niggle was revealed: I had completely forgotten something very important in one of my projects.

I don't forget things very often (apart from bills I have to pay - and that's just because I'm busy and disorganised at home). At work, I'm super-organised. Working part time in many different places, including my own business, means that I have to be extremely organised and ready for everything well ahead of deadline.

Today I received a call from the secretariat of a conference where I'm putting flyers in the conference satchels to advertise. The satchels are being packed tomorrow on the Gold Coast and I have paid for 450 flyers to be placed in those satchels. I'm in Melbourne.

Firstly, I owned my mistake. I explored the possible options with the secretariat and then told my boss what the options were. My boss was excellent. We talked about where things stood, I proposed a solution, we made a decision and I went off to fix the problem.

Thanks to the digital age, I was able to easily find a local printer, email them the art work and have the flyers printed and delivered by 8:30 tomorrow morning to the place where the satchels are being packed. Phew!

Initially, I felt really stupid and was concerned that I had made such a mistake. I guess I also worried that I had let people down. Of course, everyone makes mistakes. I told myself this and then my little inner critic replied "but I don't". I shut that critic down. Of course I make mistakes. I just proved that today. Being open, honest and owning the error was the best thing I could do. This enabled collaboration on the solution my error had created and built trust. Yes! My boss will trust me more as a result of what happened today - not because I made a mistake, but because I didn't try to hide the error.

What do you do when you make a mistake?

What about the sign on this door? I notice it every day at my train station, but today I tried to understand what it means. I think someone made a mistake. What's the point of a door that no one is allowed to go through?

© 2014 divacultura

When the world's less than perfect - what's your reaction?

It's been a bit bumpy lately.  My work is taking me outside Melbourne regularly.  I'm often working in a place I've never seen and have had no influence or input into the arrangements.  As a hired gun, this is business as usual.

I was recently working with someone for the first time on a particular program.  It's a program with which I'm so familiar I can facilitate it without reference to any of the paperwork.  The program has many different styles of engaging people, involves three rooms and video cameras, delicate timing and a particular set up for all of the rooms.  I have no control over any of this, but the impact of getting it right or wrong is enormous.  Last week, we encountered problem after problem with just about every aspect of the logistics and resourcing. My cofacilitator was becoming increasingly frazzled as she tried to juggle the competing demands on her time during the brief window available to prepare everything before participants started to arrive.

These difficulties were frustrating me too, but I'm very clear about what I can control and the boundaries of my job.  As I sent the person with local responsibility away to resolve one of the issues, my colleague shook her head and asked me how I could just trust that the problem would be resolved.  On one hand, she had a point.  The local coordinator was the person who had not paid attention to all the detail, so in many respects the problems were created by them.  On the other hand, I had no capacity to do two jobs!  I had to let the person get on with what they needed to do.

I had no option but to trust that person.

At first glance it can seem that I work independently, but this is not correct;  I work in a team.  All of the people in that team have different roles and many of us are never in the same place together, yet we all rely on each other.  I need them to fulfill their roles or I can't fulfill mine.  If I fail to deliver then all their work is for nothing.

This week I'm somewhere different and again the world is not perfect.  Lots of little things are not as they should be.  I've got to fulfill my role anyway.  So I take a breath and relax and adjust to the world that it is, rather than resenting the fact it's not the world I need it to be.

Observing reactions of different people is really interesting.  I'm sure that my reactions now are very different from how they might have been a year or two ago.  Understanding what I can influence and what I need to accept is a great thing to have gained.

So what's your reaction?  What do you do when things aren't as they need to be?  Do you roll with it or do you shut down?  Or perhaps you get angry and frustrated?  What could you do instead?

What driving taught me about how I think about other people.

As I drove around Melbourne today - in the rain - I contemplated how the behaviour of people on the roads completely changes in Melbourne if it rains.  Or if it's really hot.  Or cold.  Or windy.  It's bizarre.  I also thought about how I can be the best driver on the road, but that isn't the whole story. There is a bunch of other people also driving around.  The whole system relies on every single driver obeying the rules and doing their best with an intention to reach their destination safely.

I have an on again/ off again relationship with rules.  On one hand I've often been in positions where my role has been to enforce rules.   I was the senior boarder prefect at school.  I got my own room and a special pocket on my blazer so it was totally worth it.  I was a union official where my whole world revolved around negotiating rules and then ensuring that the rules were followed.  At one stage I was president and in charge of rules at meetings.  On the other hand, my creative nature sees me push the boundaries.  When problems arise I often pay no regard to the rules when I'm exploring potential solutions.

On the wall near my front door I have a message to myself which says in part: "Tear up their rules.  Run your own race."

As I've rearranged my life I find I'm more able to live in a way that is more aligned with my true nature.    But then I'm driving.  One of the things I had to do today was turn right at a set of traffic lights.  The traffic lights gave me a green arrow and I just turned right without even thinking.  As I straightened up, it occurred to me that I can only turn right on the green arrow safely because everyone else on the road was obeying their red lights.  While I'm driving I trust and expect that everyone is doing their best to follow the rules. I have to operate like this or I can't drive anywhere.

This experience today highlighted one of the things I often discuss with clients.  I hear many people talk about the problem people in their team or in their business in a negative way:  "they aren't motivated to do well", "they just turn up for the money", "they're not really there for the business."  When I hear these descriptions I have a conversation which finishes with a question.  "What would it mean for your relationship with that person if you accepted that they're trying to do their best?  What would happen if that was the lens you saw them through?"

I realised today that driving on the roads - especially in the city with lots of other people - is a living example of this idea.  The fundamental starting point needs to be that everyone is doing their best driving to get from A to B without incident.  JUST LIKE YOU.

Have you ever tried to drive where there's a back seat driver in the car?  I remember driving my grandparents around on the Gold Coast not  long after I got my first car.  My Grandfather was sitting in the back taking in the scenery.  My Granny was sitting beside me telling me everything I should be doing and not doing as I drove the car.  Within five minutes, I was a nervous wreck.  I remember pulling the car over and saying that I couldn't drive them safely with Granny critiquing everything I did. She needed to trust me that my intention was to get us all safely to where we were going. I was also in my new car which I didn't want to smash. I detected silent applause from my Grandfather in the back (we met eyes in the rear vision mirror) and Granny said nothing else for the entire trip.  She sat very upright, clutching her seatbelt, but she said nothing.  Being assertive was the best thing I could do for the safety of everyone in the car.

As you go out in the world what do you expect from people?  How do you see them?  Are you expecting and trusting them to do what's needed? or are you waiting for them to trip up?  Are you the back seat driver sucking the confidence out of people as you micro manage and second guess everything they do?

You can make a conscious decision to trust.  Try it next time you're driving.  Imagine how hard it would be to get around if you didn't trust others to obey the rules and do the right thing.  Then think about how you can change your view and focus on the things that can really help and empower the people around you.