Managing: Getting on the same page
Sorry, there’s a lot of metaphors in this one, starting with the page metaphor. But because AI struggles with metaphors, at least it’s evidence that I wrote this.
If I had a dollar for every problem that had at its core ‘they should know what they should be doing”, I’d have a bob or two. But at its core, we have a difference of opinion about what priorities are, a gap of understanding of what is important, and what is acceptable.
Gaps happen
Staff and managers aren’t always on the same page about:
What they should be doing,
What the priorities should be,
What are acceptable/unacceptable variances from the rules or terms (e.g. 5 mins late back from lunch),
What is unacceptable/unacceptable conduct (e.g. giving a patient a ‘hard word or two’ about personal ownership of their treatment).
You’re not a mind reader, and neither are they. Some people are more naturally in sync with others, but no two people will see the world the same way every time.
Why differences happen
Everyone has their reasons. But here are some key points to think of:
All reasons are founded in assumptions of importance. And these are prioritised. We all have reasons for doing things, because X is important, and on the assumption that X is more important than Y, or Z or C.
These important things can work related, or non-work related. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes they are non-work masquerading as work (leaving work early to ‘get stuff done at home’ but really to make a school pick-up).
People overlook competing priorities. Everyone is prone to just think about what is in front of them, and not see the bigger picture. Not charging a patient is a good example- it’s reasonable if you only look at the patient in front of you, but other priorities (e.g. it’s the owner’s money you’re giving away, will this create expectations, etc) can be forgotten.
How routine or non-routine your workplace is will determine how often this needs to happen. If different and novel things happen most days, then everyone needs to think on their feet more, so more likely to get out of alignment.
We want people to be think for themselves, to make judgement calls. Neither we, nor they, want every little decision made by the boss. But this requires getting on the same page by aligning heads.
Aligning heads
I read this once in a science fiction book, but can’t find any evidence of it in the real world, so you may need to pretend with me a little. Astronauts in zero gravity will manuever so that their heads all face each other the ‘same way up’. Where everyone can be at different angles in weightless space, but you need to talk to someone and come to a shared understanding, you ‘line yourselves’ up, so you can look at their face on the same angle as yours, and better read their facial expressions and body language, and get on the same page. I don’t know if it’s true, but it sounds true, so let’s assume it will happen in the future. If not, it’s only metaphor.
What this means is that we will need to align heads with people semi-regularly. If fact we do this all the time, in little ways, with little comments, questions, musings. You do this in your home/family all the time.
I’m not going to tell you how- you know how to do this- you know how to talk to people- how to ask, how to explore, how to understand things from their point of view. The important thing to remember is- they have their point of view, take the time to understand it.
What if they don’t agree?
This happens. Judging priorities is a subjective thing. Just listen, understand, and if consensus can’t be reached, decide and tell. We don’t need to agree on everything, and everyone accepts that the boss gets to decide.
Just don’t be afraid to decide- if its important, it’s more important than people need to be right.
