Faced with an issue, a change of something or an obstruction during your working day, how many ways do you stop to see how best to tackle it?
Glenn Jones MSc ChFCIPD ChFCIPP
Global HR/People Freelance Consultant @ GGJ Global Consulting Limited | CPO, HR Shared Services, HR COO, Payroll
By
Glenn G Jones
GGJ Global Consulting Limited
Most of us at work today are full tilt most of the time.? If we are not eyes down into emails, it’s face-to-face meetings; if it’s not face-to-face meetings, it’s Team meetings etc. I think you get the gist.? Before diving into how to tackle this, back in July 2023, I ran a LinkedIn poll which returned the following very interesting percentages:
Option. Voting % Voting Numbers
There is only one way 2% 1
I try to look at both sides 26% 12
I look at both sides & middle 33% 15
4 ways plus 39% 18?
As a researcher and budding Academic, you should always be open when running things like this; however, I gave myself some latitude on this occasion.? Before running the poll, I assumed that the more significant number of people who responded would have been in the first two options; how wrong was I?? A resounding 72% picked the last two options of “I look at both sides and middle” and “4 ways plus!” At this point, I thought, is there any point in writing this article? I decided to anyway.
It is refreshing to see that 72% of people take the time to step away from an issue and obstruction to see the options available to solve it, so that has to bode well for a generalization of the point, or does it?
How many sides does a coin have?
Before going into the question and for anyone who has read my articles before or knows me, I love a quote or two.
“Peace and Justice are two sides of a coin” by Dwight D Eisenhower and “Life is like a coin; pleasure and pain are the two sides.? Only one side is visible at a time.? But remember other side is waiting for its turn” by Unknown.?
Your first reaction to the above question may be a binary one of 2; however, did you consider the edge of the coin as a side and the ridges of the images on the coin another?? This, for me, is the main thrust of this article: when reacting to a change of something or an obstruction, generally, our brains like to think binary.? Also, depending on where you are in your day, your brain may be at its optimum or not, so you may fall for the default position of either this or that! ?When researching quotes, I could not find one that talked about more than two sides, and it raised the question of whether we are indoctrinated to think one way or another but not more than that.? The people who answered the poll buck this idea.? However, looking at the academic research, Blanchard Fields (2007) suggested that our cognitive functions decline in later life; however, they argued that “older adults solve emotionally salient and interpersonal problems in more effective ways than young adults do”.
Tricks of the trade
Quote from Mission Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One “Cold, logical and unemotional.”
You may be asking yourself why I have chosen to write the above; sadly, because most of us don’t tend to address issues and/or blockages in a “cold, logical and emotional” way; instead, we tend to react hot, illogical, and unemotional as that is just human behaviour.? However, there are some tricks of the trade that I have picked up over the years, and I am sure there are many more:?
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1.???? Gain some perspective – firstly, recognize the environment that you are in.? Casting my mind back to my Military Police days, one of the things we were taught to do when arriving at a scene was not to rush in, to survey the environment, to listen to what was going on and prioritise what we did next.? Your first task in gaining some perspective is to step away from the problem and understand your environment and how you feel, listen to your internal dialogue and breathe slowly in and out multiple times.? Often or not, the first thing that your body does is to speed up breathing and next is the reptilian part of your brain that typically triggers a fight or flight response.? Also, often, the next thing that kicks in is your six-year-old self.? Stop what you are doing and slow right down.? Engage with your six-year-old self and find out what’s been triggered.? Recognizing this is key.
2.??? Never act if you are angry – what’s the old saying? “Quick decisions made in anger usually result in regret” (Elizabeth Bourgeret).? I have fallen fowl to this one many times, and yes, I have regretted decisions; however, now I channel the anger into rational thinking.? I take myself through the thought process of what I am about to do is the right thing for me.? If it is, I carry through; if not, I stop and park it until I am ready to decide on the next steps.
3.??? “A problem shared is a problem halved” (unknown) – I tend to find that the higher you go in your career, this could become a problem.? The “ding ding” moment should be when you realise that you do not know the answers to everything and that other people can help.? If you are in a team, ask your team; if you are in a relationship, ask someone who has been in that predicament before; and if you have a coach/mentor, ask them.? Remember the proverb “pride comes before a fall”, and guess what? You don’t need to be the person with all the answers.
4.??? Data, data, and data – linked closely with point 1, ensuring you have all the data points helps you make an informed decision.? If you don’t have all the facts, don’t make them up.? The human brain tends to search for examples to back stuff up.? An adage states, “If you are dealing with an extremely important decision, you should always sleep on it” (Theo Compernolle).? The picture below, whilst blurry, enforces the multiple things that are hitting your prefrontal cortex at any one time; statically, “the human brain can process 11 million bits of information every second; however, our conscious mind can only handle 40 to 50 bits of information a second” (Agarwal)
5.??? Get creative – as we get into adulthood, we often revert to old programming or tried and semi-tested solutions. ?However, the following picture that has been used/seen over many years probes the mindset of getting creative:
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Many people will look at this picture and see a young woman facing away or an old woman with her chin resting on her fur coat.? This, for me, typifies getting creative. You can step away from the issue or obstacle and look at it from multiple angles.? Writing or drawing often brings things to life; the byproduct is that it gets it out of my head.? Many years ago, when I was in IT consultancy in the early 2000s, we used to have a saying about “headless monsters running riot everywhere”, and this was generally what we saw from our clients who could not articulate the problem.? I digress; there will often be multiple options and solutions, and the key is identifying as many creative outcomes as possible.? Only when you have explored all possibilities should you take your next step.
Conclusion:
Every day we are challenged by issues, changes, and obstacles, and to avoid making rash decisions, we must gain perspective, never react/act when angry, work through problems with other people, be data-driven and be creative.? The human brain is being bombarded with millions of data per second, so slowing down, breathing and considering the many sides of a coin are essential, if not vital, when responding to the world that we live in.?There are several other things that should be considered, and I would welcome your thoughts as the reader of this article.
Bio
Glenn is a freelance People (Human Resources) consultant and has worked with Babcock International Group, Org, ISG, Tesco, AXA XL, Bank of America, HSBC, Ecolab and Imperial Brands in multi-discipline strategic and operational roles worldwide. Before this, he was employed by Eversheds LLP, Accenture, Koorb (NZ) and EON, as well as numerous other companies. He is working his way to his DBA, becoming a future CEO and evolving his HR consultancy business to ensure that he continually adds value to his clients, now and in the future. ?Glenn is passionate about coaching, emotional intelligence and company evolution. His book ‘Human Resources Changes The World' aims to disrupt the function of HR (People) and change the traditional approach to who becomes a CEO.
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Agarwal, P. (2021)?Sway: Unravelling unconscious bias. London: Bloomsbury Sigma.?
Blanchard-Fields, F. (2007). Everyday Problem Solving and Emotion.?Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00469.x
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