How to Overcome by Understanding Other’s Challenges

Overcome by Understanding- “You cannot do the impossible or overcome obstacles if you do not seek to understand the challenges of others.”
Ken Lanzel

No Finger Pointing-

Overcome- In my youth, someone told me, ‘If you are pointing at someone, you have three more fingers pointing back at you.” At the time, I did not see the depth of the statement. In my immaturity, I saw it as a statement of defense. My view was more like the ‘I am rubber you are glue’ type of rebuttal trying to deflate someone using their pointer finger and words as a destructive weapon against the inner fabric of my spiritual being. Ok, that was a little dramatic. However, I used it as a sarcastic comeback.

As I became a leader, I realized this quote was more of an emotionally intelligent blueprint for being a more collaborative servant leader. The philosophy is realizing before pointing or blaming someone for work issues, by making sure my work or shop was clean. Then I worked hard to develop a way never to be ‘that guy.’

The Process of Overcome by Understanding-

The process outlined below has made me extraordinarily successful at collaborating with other peers, workgroups, and clients. Implemented consistently, it will also increase the velocity of execution and provide a positive culture across multiple organizations.

To ‘Overcome by Understanding’ and not be the leader who burns bridges by pointing fingers at others, you need to identify and resolve the following steps:

Pause before you ‘Point’-

The most critical part of this process is to identify the area of frustration and do not immediately respond. Rather, seek the root of the issue and identify the challenge. If you are hot about an issue here is a good tip. Type your frustrated angry mad email but do not put an email address on it. When finished let it sit there and then delete it.

Humbly Root Cause Internally to Overcome-

This is the time to look at the “three fingers pointing back at you.” Have you and your team done ALL they could to minimize issues downstream or upstream? Did you submit all the info? Are you sure you placed the order correctly, etc.? Make any needed corrections or gather more data on the problem statement. This exercise is a perfect time to sharpen the saw and fine-tune your operations.

*IMPORTANT– During this time, absolutely No Assumptions. No one, and I mean NO ONE wakes up in the morning and says, “I think I am going to go to work and make a dilapidated decision to hinder this Leader organization today. “

Read more on ownership and accountability at these two helpful blogs:

Inspect What You Expect- 7 Steps Getting Accountable Results

Are You a Boomerang? How to Be Wildly Accountable

Now Seek to Understand-

When you go to the other group, go with positivity toward them with a conversation like, “My team and I have noticed an increase of XYZ issue, we recently did a review of these three things (the three fingers pointing back at you), and I was wondering if you could help me understand what you are seeing that may be able to help us solve this issue.” It is important to listen to the other leader or employee. You never quite know what is going on personally, organizationally, competing priorities, budget constraints that may have led to the breakdown.

Offer Collaborative Assistance or Partnership Solution-

This is a great opportunity to create long-term cultural change and drive value-based accountability across departments and the workforce. Work together to identify the issues. Then offer solutions to help from your teams’ side even if the issue is not fully residing in your shop. Set attainable timelines to have the issue resolved.

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Deliver on Accountability Measures-

Continue to rely on each other to deliver on your promise-based management timeline and hold each other accountable. Once you deliver on a resolution, make sure you celebrate or recognize those involved because it will set the right tone for when an issue arises. And trust me, it will!

Remove ‘Those STINKIN’s’ from the Culture-

The last step to this entire process is maintaining perception amongst the teams. Make sure you catch someone when they say, ‘Those stinking field people,’ Those stinking sales engineers’ or ‘Stinking HR’ catch and correct them because if they believe they are not currently ‘Those stinking (insert department here)’ to the other folks they are fooling yourself. Correct the culture by setting straight the perceptions. Say something like, “would you want to switch roles with that person” or “How have you worked to help them resolve your issue?” Then coach them through performing steps 1 – 5.

You may also want to read our blog on business practices!! Overcome More

In Conclusion-

Challenge: Seek to overcome by understanding the area that is causing you the most issues. As you continue to execute through issues this manner, you will notice it has a reoccurring and reciprocal snowball effect. What I mean by that is people gravitate to leaders who are more than civil with issues. They are humble servant leaders who lead with genuine concern for others. You will notice collaboration across department boundaries and issue resolution to be contagious with highly efficient rates. And lastly, you should function this way humbly to get issues resolved in return. However, those who are treated well remember the positive experience and typically jump at the opportunity to return the favor the next time issues arise.

Welcome to Pliable Dynamics!! Look forward to the journey.

First, SIGN up for one of my business coaching packages. Second, throughout the PliableDynamics.com blog, I will continue to outline methods, tactics, habits, processes, life hacks, and cadence practices to develop your Pliably Dynamic skill set.