“This is going to be a fight.”
“It’s us versus them.”
“We’ve a battle on our hands.”
A fight. Us versus them. A battle. Sounds like a damn monster movie.
People always want to do better. When you spend the majority of your week at work you want that work to somehow be different, be worthwhile. You want to know where you’re going, why and how. It’s only human.
But the language of contrasting mindsets, the language of factions, the language of conflict. It’s just not needed. It’s understandable – because better – but really? There’s no need, for yourself, for the closer team, for the wider team.
This mismatch always comes down to a lack of agreement in how to work. Taking that time upfront to sit down and talk, to understand.
“We don’t have time to sit down right now.”
Of course you do. How long does it take to talk together, to understand, and to accept how things are going to get done?
Agreement isn’t just saying yes. It’s about understanding, sharing, and agreeing to a way of working – and then actually working in that shared frame of mind. That includes the process, the structure, the systems, the stakeholders, all the things.
Last week I posted on motivations. Work can be as much personal motivations as they can be centred around your users or audience insight and business needs.
The best work never comes from ego alone.
There will always be pain points in doing the work. Throw egos into the mix and you’re not scratching your head for the people that really matter: You’re working out how to make one person look good.
Sometimes work does get off to a rocky start. Sometimes you lose your way. If you’re on with the work already is there a way to take a little time out and get everything - the people, the ways of working, the work itself - ironed out? There is always a way. Is there a will? If “collaboration” is your workplace’s ethos there should be the will - it’s your default.
Life is too short to fight. Work in a shared way to make things.
If you can’t get that agreement – within the wider team, within yourself – if there isn’t that agreement, simply, you’ve two choices.
You have to accept how things are.
Or think about where you are. Is it the right thing or place for how you want to work? Move on to something else.
Life is too fast to fight. And these days there is always something else.
Anyway. Is it really a fight – or have you just not got your way?
This post tagged with:
collaboration,
disagreements over work,
tribal culture,
understanding