What’s the right way to do things? How important is it to do things according to standards?
These two questions have something in common: the ideas of correct and incorrect. Tendentially, as a preservation instinct, women and men fear making mistakes while working. But why? Let’s say we need to design a bridge. If something goes wrong, we may be held responsible for injuries and eventual deaths due to design mistakes that lead to structural failure. Now, not everyone in real life has job responsibilities of this level. Actually, the percentage is very low, and usually it takes several years of practise before being able to withstand big responsibilities at the workplace.
Because mistakes are fundamental for professionally growing and learning, someone who looks perfect in the workplace either is not learning anything new or has a great experience that supports her or him. A well-trained or prepared person has a lower chance of committing a mistake. What about unexpected situations in our business? How do you deal with them? Every job has a percentage of unpredicted tasks that can actually be seen in two ways:
- Positive way:
- After all, you are happy because it is an opportunity to grow and learn new skills
- it interrupts the boredom of repetitive tasks that I already know everything about
- it may ignite creative actions and spark a new perspective on the business that eventually brings satisfaction
- Negative way:
- I cannot explain myself well, so in an unprecedented situation, I would look terrible at dealing with problem solving
- I hate what I do so I consequently dislike variations in work load due to unforseen situations
- I’d rather not become creative because I would be obliged to show what I really think about things, and it scares the hell out of me
The lists could be longer. The important thing is that there is no half-way: either is white or black, right or left. It is important to understand if are more type 1) or 2). There is a certain combination of the two that may happen. Rememeber that the neutral way, or point 3) does not exist. There is not a way to work out things without doing anything. We can have reflective moments in which we decide, but eventually the call to action is mandatory. It is ok to start from the negative perispective or the more-worried way. We will adjust by the way with a natural tendency of humans to eventually enjoy things they do.
Sometimes for us it is difficult to accept that our capacities and abilities would be better employed in a different field of the one we are currently working in. Once we become aware of this misalignement, we can opt for a new strategy.