Who’s to blame?

Okay, own up - who did it? Somebody started this whole thing right? Somebody did something irresponsible, stupid or crazy. Or maybe all three. Where do we point the finger?

Moreover, who allowed it to happen, through action or inaction? Who’s policies, decisions, indecisions or mistakes? Who’s overreaction, inaction or dithering got us here?

In business we often talk about ‘the buck ends here’ or ‘one throat to choke’. About ultimate responsibility, or ‘someone’s going to get fired over this’. But, you know what, it’s not helpful. Okay, it’s mostly not helpful. I’m talking about people and business here, not crime. When people commit crimes, they should be held responsible and punished. But often in business, people make mistakes for a bunch of reasons, some innocent and some less-so.

What I’ve found time and time again is that more effort is put into finding who is to blame that into fixing the problem, fixing the process or fixing the behaviour. It’s more fun to choke throats and keep on doing the same old things than to make meaningful change.

These are unusual times for sure and one thing we don’t have right now is time for blame. The Law of Conservation of Energy, states that ‘energy cannot be created or destroyed in an isolated system’. Well, we are clearly in an isolated system right now. So what are we going to do with this finite energy? Chase blame, or make a meaningful change? I’m not going to claim that something good is going to come out of all of this, but we can certainly make it less-bad.

So, here’s my 5 tips for working from home. Only kidding.

Here’s why blame isn’t really a good way to spend your time and energy.

Blame uses energy and time, both are finite resources that could be better used elsewhere.

Blame creates friction and puts up walls between people who need to work together right now.

Blame shifts responsibility away from ourselves, it’s a defence mechanism. I’m not going to fix this - I didn’t break it.

Blame is a distraction that pretends to be a solution. It pretends to be helpful, you are looking for a root cause right? Wrong, you are avoiding the fix.

Blame doesn’t solve the problem or even help identify the steps needed to fix it.

So, what to do instead?

You’ve clearly identified a problem, can you help fix it? Do you have tools, resources or skills that could help? Is this a learning opportunity? Does your team need some helping understanding a process, a technology? Is a process not fit for purpose?

The point is - moaning and groaning and finger pointing and escaping goats is a distraction. You are using time and energy that could be better used elsewhere. We are all under a lot of stress right now, and it’s going to get worse. Sorry about that. But don’t fall into the blame trap, take 20mins on a Friday to talk to your team about all the great things you’ve achieved this week and plan for the week ahead. Keep your eyes forward, keep solving problems and finding ways to be helpful.

In the meantime, if you need any help with planning, process re-engineering or meeting management, give me a call.

TL:DR Trump did it.

<witty closing remark and sign-off>