When Times Get Tough - Don't Play This Game
If I had to choose one word to define the 2020s so far, it would be CHANGE.
There are a lot of other excellent words to define this decade, of course: uncertain, tentative, disruptive, turbulent, unexpected, etc.—but these are largely the result of the incessant waves of change that now define our lives. It’s stressful, and much of it is completely out of our control.
The same can be said for change in our workplaces—and no matter how important the change may be, it’s never easy.
Change is inevitable. How we deal with it isn't
Workplace change is disruptive, and no matter how well it is executed, it’s not uncommon for employees to feel unsettled. They understand the reason for the change, and they understand their new roles, but things somehow just don’t feel right.
We hear this a lot when creating internal customer service training for our clients, and when we ask what “things just don’t feel right” means, people often struggle to define it—except to say that they feel powerless to change or influence their situation. This is a common and significant outcome of change. And left unaddressed, this feeling ultimately leads to morale challenges in the form of apathy, loss of trust, and reduced productivity. These are Bad Things for any company.
The feeling of powerlessness is insidious. When someone doesn’t believe they can influence their lives or surroundings, they begin to believe there’s no point in even trying—and that’s when the downward spiral begins.
The sad part is that we often give our power away. We do this to a great extent by playing the blame game.
Blame game example 1
You’re a middle manager and charged with implementing a change in a process. You gather your employees, and begin with, “Okay, this is what they want us to do…”
What’s the message you just sent? Well, by blaming ‘them,’ and not championing the change or taking ownership, you’ve positioned yourself as a powerless pawn instead of a competent leader.
Imagine the difference if you had instead said, “Okay, here’s the plan…”
Blame game example 2
You tell a customer, “I know it’s frustrating, but that’s the way they want us to do it…”
In this instance, by blaming ‘they’, you’ve told the customer that you’re just mindlessly following orders.
Imagine the difference if you had instead said, “I know it’s frustrating, but here’s why this is a good thing…”
Blame game example 3
A customer comes in, complaining about a mistake that your coworker made, and you say, “Oh, that was Kate. She shouldn’t have done that.” Now, the customer sees you as someone who throws colleagues under buses.
But if you had instead said, “I’m so sorry that happened. Let me get that fixed right away,” the customer would see you as someone who takes ownership and fixes things.
Every time you point your finger, you give your power away.
The blame game damages your future
Blame is a wonderful thing. It gives us comfort when we can convince ourselves that we’re smarter than the people around us. (After all, if we were in charge, we wouldn’t be making all of these obvious mistakes, would we?) And let’s face it, as long as we have someone else to blame for our woes, we don’t have to feel responsible for fixing things, do we?
Here's a great rule to live by
The reality is that, while casting blame may give us some short-term satisfaction, it significantly damages our opportunities and reputations. It disempowers us and tells everyone around that we’re not willing to take ownership. Take a page from highly successful people: Instead of looking for what’s wrong or who’s to blame, look for what’s right and how to make things better. Here’s a great rule to live by:
Champion it, fix it or leave it. Blame is a game for the uninspired.
