You know, sometimes **** hits the fan. It happens, and once it has happened it can't be undone, so the fact that the fan has been excrementated becomes less important, and what becomes more important, is what you are going to do about it.
As leaders (or humans in general), we suffer from knee-jerk reactions. We see a fire, and we jump into firefighting mode, often in a state similar to flight or fight, and often operating more on instinct than logic. Crisis or not, we need to learn to control that instinct, because sometimes when the crisis is over, that instinct follows.
I was recently involved in a situation where the metaphorical fan was... you get the point... and a crisis ensued, then the crisis was resolved, then it immediately jumped into the blame game. Emotions were still high and the knee-jerk was strong.
Someone made a mistake and set this whole thing into motion. What do you do about that?
Think about it.
It is easy to jump to the fast conclusion that this person made the mistake, they were at fault, and they need to be punished, but I'd like to put a few more things into play.
Does it make a difference:
- if the mistake was honest and unintentional?
- If the mistake was malicious and intentional?
- If the person even knew they were doing something wrong?
- If the person was capable of avoiding the mistake?
In these different situations, the blame could fall on the person who made the mistake, or the trainer who didn't teach them how to do it properly, or even the leader who shouldn't have put them in that situation in the first place. It isn't so clear cut.
In those moments of high emotion, try to remember that piece of logic, and that the situation you see immediately before you might not be the truth, and that we may be more culpable than we know.
What other factors come into play when passing the blame?
-Alexander C. Cook MEng, MBA, PEng, PMP