Dale Sackrider II

We have all had the experience of a boss demanding we do something difficult and do it in the dumbest way possible, like being told to cut the grass using a pair of dull scissors even though cutting the grass isn’t our job and despite the perfectly good lawn mower right there. How do you navigate situations where you have no control? While the knee-jerk reaction might be to embrace a victim mindset, it’s crucial to recognize that empowerment lies in intentional actions, even in seemingly dire circumstances.

The Dull Scissors Dilemma

The dull scissors dilemma is the problem posed in the cut the grass example above. These stressful situations will trigger instinctive reactions: fight, flight, freeze, or appease. Each of these reactions had value in certain situations, but if we want to impact our outcome, we should be intentional about how we react.

Fight:

You can tell your boss that you won’t do it. Its not the best use of your talent and time and attempt to persuade them to recend the assignment. Arguing or rebelling in the face of adversity can be a natural response, but it comes with its own set of pros and cons. If you have a good relationship with your boss and this request is out of the norm, I would take this approach.

Pros:

• Expression of frustration and resistance.
• Potential for initiating change.

Cons:

• Risk of larger repercussions.
• Escalation of tension.

Flight:

Choosing to quit or seek another job is a form of flight, a decision that can be justified in certain situations. If this request is common, if fighting in the past hasn’t been successful, then this is a strong option. But you shouldn’t run every time you face a difficult task; every job has difficult situations eventually.

Pros:

• Freedom from a challenging environment.
• Pursuit of better opportunities.

Cons:

• May not address the root cause.
• Potential for burning bridges.

Freeze:

Doing nothing in response to a challenging task might seem counterproductive, but sometimes, strategic inaction can be beneficial. If you have a high energy boss who is prone to ‘drive by’ requests, this wait-and-see if they ask again approach might be the right decision. I’ve used this in my career very successfully however it has the potential to come back to haunt you.

Pros:

• Observing the situation before acting.
• Assessment of long-term implications.

Cons:

• Rarely helpful in actively resolving issues.
• Risk of missed opportunities.

Appease:

Complying with a request regardless of personal feelings is appeasement. The shut up and do it option. If this is a one off situation and fighting the ask is more difficult than its worth, strap on your Nike’s and just do it. This is a good option when there isn’t a pattern of abusive requests from your leader and especially if making noise at work would be a bad idea in the moment.

Pros:

• Smooth navigation of political dynamics.
• Quick resolution in some cases.

Cons:

• May perpetuate unfavorable conditions.
• Compromise of personal values.

Taking Intentional Action

While these reactions often stem from instinct, recognizing them and consciously choosing a course of action is pivotal. It’s essential to remember that, in many instances, we have the power to influence change before reaching the point of fight, flight, freeze, or appease. Be intentional in your responses, take action with purpose in the face of workplace adversity.

The ancient folklore goes like this: An architect is required to stand under the arch as the keystone is put in place and the wood supports are removed. If the arch holds, the architect is validated but if it fails, he pays the ultimate price for his failure.

The anecdote was made popular in Ken Follett’s book, The Pillars of the Earth, but there is no evidence that any ancient architect actually had to endure such a test. Even though its not historical fact, there is a lesson we can learn from the story.

If your life was on the line, I imagine you would espire to do your best work. This is what accountability does – it challenges us to be the best we can be. The good news today is that holding yourself accountable isn’t likely to get you killed, which means you can learn from your mistakes.

Often we found ourselves acting as mercenaries; hired hands working on someone else’s projects. Mercenaries have no accountability for the outcome. They do what they are paid to do even if it doesn’t ultimately produce the desired results. This happens to all of us in our careers from time to time, but its never going to produce the best version of you.

I’ve seen countless tiktok and youtube shorts where some would suggest you should never do more than you are being paid for. This is a mercenary mindset, but even if your desire is to be the best mercenary, its not likely to get you there. Comments like “I do mediocre work because they pay me mediocre pay” only serves to create a mediocre you.

But when you not only hold yourself accountable for your work, but demand others hold you accountable as well, you will create better long term results.

How can you position yourself at work to ‘stand under the arch’?

1. Ensure a well defined outcomes
2. Create a clear due dates
3. Set outcome expectations with management
4. Report on the results
5. Do a retrospective exercise in order to learn what you did right and what you did wrong

Be the best version of you, always. Accountability helps you to accomplish this goal.

“I listened to your debate with Mike on the podcast during my walk – I like how you pushed back but everyone was able to stay respectful.”

a recent comment from a co-worker

Huh? What podcast? We had a debate? OH yeah… I totally forgot about that. The link is below, but here is some background:

I had a calendar invite to a discussion on transformation and a dojo approach to learning. When I joined the call, Brent LaMotte and Michael Basil framed the agenda as wanting to record a longer than typical episode for Brent’s podcast “Faster than a Standup”.

I’m always up for a good conversation so of course I agreed and assumed the next steps were to discuss how we want the conversation to go, what our specific focus might be for the episode and to schedule the recording.

Brent however said, “great – let’s get started”, hit record and gave his intro to the episode. The impromptu result is, I think, an engaging conversation about why transformations happen, how we can facilitate necessary change, and how a dojo approach can work to make that happen.

If you have some time and these topics interest you – check it out.

Episode 149: The Aim Is Really The Horizon

What we can learn from the mess in our homes in order to create better results at work

Growing up, we would say the house needs to be ‘drop by ready’, so that if someone just dropped by, we could invite them in without having to scramble to move clothes off the sofa for them to have a seat and clean up last night’s pizza trash before offering them a glass of tea. Why are some people’s homes always drop by ready while others are always embarrassingly cluttered and dirty?

At work, I turn chaos into order. I do that by identifying the systems needed to produce the results the business is looking to achieve and then build or improve those systems. I don’t like buzz words like ‘systems thinker’ but in some cases, there just isn’t a better way to say something. I’m a systems thinker.

What is a system?

A quick google search provides us with this definition:

a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized framework or method.

When creating a system, I look first at the results we want to achieve and then back into the steps we need to achieve those results, and because I’m a systems thinker, I find myself thinking in systems at home just as often at work.

So what is the result I’m looking to achieve at home? I want my house to be drop by ready. What are my current outcomes? A messy house. Clearly we have a failure in systems.

3 systems you need in your house

TRASH: you live in your house along with family or roommates – and living anywhere creates trash. If you don’t have a system to process trash, you will live in trash. My kids default behavior is trash goes wherever it was created.

This is very efficient – when they take the last breakfast bar from the box, leaving the empty box on the pantry shelf while walking to their room with the bar takes no thought or effort. When they finish the bar, the wrapper it was in can also be dropped at the foot of their desk with same effort free inattention.

But… this doesn’t create the result we want. Trash is left all over the house and the goal is a trash free home. And while the initial efforts are low, the secondary effort to clean up the resulting mess is higher.

Lesson One: efficiency isn’t the goal, efficacy is.

DISHES: Eating is an everyday activity and this creates dirty dishes. My wife has suggested that eating out reduces or even eliminates this problem. She is correct and eating out would be very effective to create the outcome we want regarding dishes

But…eating out creates new challenges. First there is the obvious budget implications. Even ‘cheap’ options aren’t so cheap. It costs me $50-70 to take my family of six to most fast food places these days and a sit down place is double or triple that.

Second but maybe less obvious new challenge created by eating out is scheduling. Making dinner at home does take time but getting the family in the car to head out to eat not only takes much longer, it’s often not even possible, due to family events, kid functions, school activities. We don’t always have the chance to eat at the same time and certainly not for every meal.

Lesson Two: Second level impacts must be considered.

DIRTY CLOTHES: My teenages don’t seem to agree that this is a problem that needs to be solved. Left to them to decide, they would store their clean clothes in the same location as their dirty clothes; in a basket if we are lucky, but more often in a pile on the floor. Content with a sniff test to determine if an item is wearable – this system creates the outcome they care about. When items no longer pass the sniff – they get tossed into another pile that in some magical process eventually finds its way to the washer, dryer, and back into a basket in their room.

But…it isn’t magic. The adults in the house get fed up with the stink and either have a yelling match with the offending teenager to force them to do the dirtiest laundry or we do it ourselves.

Lesson Three: Different Stakeholders hold different priorities

Putting it all together

When you have an outcome that isn’t what you want – the chances are you have a missing or broken system. This is true in our home or office. When you look at what systems you need in place, remember that they must be effective above everything else. This does not mean you get to ignore second level impacts like extremely inefficient processes that put a strain on other parts of the ecosystem. And if you do not align all the stakeholders, you will find conflict and resistance in executing whatever system you are implementing.

I use these principles daily in order to turn chaos into order, create the results I want to see, and keep my house drop by ready! Now if only I could figure out what system I need to finally lose the extra weight…