Page 70 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

• Perhaps you have gained a new level of insight into how little
you know relative to how much you’re expected to accomplish
(a problem with capability).

Faced with unpleasant discoveries like these, you may have been
tempted to divert your attention elsewhere. Forget about overtness! Turn
off the light, close the door, and leave the skeleton in the closet where
you found it. Put down the troublesome book that’s causing you to
question things best left unexamined and get back to your daily grind.
Or you may have latched onto your depressing new discovery with
miserable glee. “This is the reason my job is so messed up,” you
exclaim. “This is the reason it can never get better!” Perhaps you’re
already making plans to share your newfound bit of hopelessness with
your coworkers. “I’m reading this book that says it’s supposed to be
this way, and it’s not. Now I know why things will never improve.”
Unfortunately, neither ignoring nor complaining about the diffi -
culties you uncover is particularly benefi cial to your output-stress
ratio—not if you want to create a culture change, and not even if
you just want a slightly better workplace. So try hard not to be too
surprised, mortified, frightened, paralyzed, or aggravated at what you

discover. Just remember that the discovery of each problem is the fi rst
step in its resolution.
The next step, of course, is to look for answers.

Seeking Clarity
The act of seeking clarity is well understood and widely practiced by
those most adept at negotiating the early information age workplace.
It is the searching out of viable answers to the ever-present questions
constantly raised by your complex work.
It begins with a simple but important assumption: confl icts, con-
straints, confusion, and complexity are facts of life. Their presence
does not represent the failure of an employee to handle work cor-
rectly, the failure of a manager to assign work properly, or the failure
of a leadership team to “make life easier.” They are not your fault,

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