The "Crumpled Paper" Principle
Eduardo Hans
Director, Delivery Management (eCOA) at Signant Health | Leadership, Delivery Management, Coaching
You had a rough day at the office: you didn't sleep well last night, nothing seemed to click today (did you actually FINISH something today??), people you interacted with were especially annoying (newsflash: people were being their normal selves; YOU were the one who was especially grumpy today). You send that last(?) email of the day - you're going to check your inbox during your commute, aren't you? - and while walking towards the door, you notice a crumpled piece of paper lying on the floor.
Two options:
a) "Sorry, I'm tired and I just want to go home and besides, who cares? The cleaning personnel should be here any minute now and it's their job to pick this up anyway."
or
b) Spend a "whopping" 5 seconds to pick it up, throw it in the bin and leave (remember to put the alarm on or there'll be hell to pay).
It's very easy to lose sight of what really matters: the people around you.
I didn't realize it until I started working where I am today, but that piece of paper is something I come across every single day, multiple times a day, and so do you. No, the cleaning crew in our office is not on strike and they work just fine.
We all work hard and do the best we can do given the circumstances we are in and it's very easy to lose sight of what really matters: the people around you. Well, not the people themselves, we're not sociopaths, but lose sight of how easily we can have a positive impact in the performance of others around us (always a plus: either our job gets easier, or we feel GREAT - we win either way).
Oh, and that crumpled paper of the floor?
- It's that one small item which is not part of your job but you end up taking care of anyway because it'll save someone else some work/time.
- It's that "are you okay / everything alright / need any help?" question you ask someone with a frown, even when you yourself are not okay / everything is falling apart / you wish someone would offer you some help.
You see, ignoring that "crumpled paper" because you don't have time, you're tired or you simply don't care is a reflection of you who are as an employee, regardless of your position in the company you work in (even if you operate at a CxO level, I don't care: I'm standing by my "Crumpled Paper" principle).
"The better we all know each other's jobs, the better we can do our own"
Some may call it a "romantic" view of the workplace, but I honestly believe that the better we all know each other's jobs, the better we can do our own in the sense that if you can understand the needs of the people around you regardless of their role, team or position in the company, you can only gain from catering to those needs even (and especially) when you go outside your "job description" to help.
I have an amazing team of 27 people who I genuinely care about. I may have not have mentioned the crumpled paper principle to most of them, but I want to believe I don't have to because I try to take that principle to use every single day though sometimes it's not easy (and those are exactly the right instances to take it into use).
All I can hope for is that they know no matter how much "paper" is on the floor, no matter how hard the day has been (and no matter if the cleaning crew dropped the ball) there will always be someone to help picking it up.
Senior Operations Software Engineer at Signant Health
1 年This article can be simplified with a three tiered principal; When pondering ‘how to deal with evil’, the crumpled paper in this article; Teir 1 (best tier): using ‘hands’, doing the ‘damn thing’ yourself, “Whoever among you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand [by taking action]” (ref) like in the article doing the job yourself (after all only took 5 seconds to resolve the litter to bin (you’d probably get a good deed done for the day too; soul intesyfying satisfaction!) Tier 2 (mediocre): speak up, “(if unable to do themselves) then with her/his tongue [by speaking out]” (ref), like raising question if everything okays to your colleague in the article when experiencing lacklustre. Tier 3 (worst behaviour): acknowledgement with no action or response, “(and if he/she cannot speak out either) then with his/her heart [by at least hating it and believing that it is wrong], and that is the weakest of faith.” (Narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, (ref)), like in article atleast realise that theirs something kaput with the situation.. before you walk straight past on your way out the door (harder to do when remote) Else be naive and ignorant which is not recommended. Ref - https://islamqa.info/amp/en/answers/33757
Your data is ripe. I make your data talk. In your language.
3 年I agree with your view 100%. However, bringing in a nuance (if I may): we would never be able to know (also depends how deep this "know" will go ;-) ) the job of everyone in the company. We won't have enough time to do what we HAVE to do. Rather I would say, this principle should apply to the ones you/we are most closed by. Regardless of whether it's a person or another team. It's like in a wall: not all bricks are directly connected with each other with mortar. If we want to make this possible beyond the "direct connected roles", role-rotation is something I've seen happening in smaller organizations (>250 FTE). This way, over a certain period of time, you can increase the exposure of one person/role, to multiple jobs/roles. my2cents
Scrum Knight @BMW | Critical TechWorks
6 年You look familiar....
Scrum Knight @BMW | Critical TechWorks
6 年Smarter work, easier work, better people!