Are Imagined Problems Keeping You from Solving the Real Ones?

During the course of one business day, there are myriad problems that pop up. Unfortunately, many of the problems the average worker may think he or she has to deal with, may not actually be REAL problems. By this, it is meant that many of us bring our own baggage and imagined issues to work and it keeps us from being fully present and able to deal with what the true, pressing problems happen to be.

Of course, we are all human'"we cannot help but bring that humanity to the workplace with us. As a matter of fact, our humanity is often an asset on the job. Our personal experiences, employment history and other human perspectives can be a rich addition to the work environment. When we are unclear and unfocused, however, or personalizing things that really have nothing to do with us'"then we are not able to focus on real problems in real time.

For example, let's say that you receive a rush order from a new customer. Unfortunately, the person who takes the orders had to go home sick and there was a delay in the information making it to those workers who need to process the order. The reality is that the order process might be running behind. The REAL problem is how to catch up, process the order with efficiency and accuracy and get it out the door to the customer. Perhaps on of the shipping and processing worker personalizes the fact that the order-taker had to go sick? Perhaps he assumes that the process was being thwarted on purpose or assumes that the problem is rude or lazy coworkers. In this situation, the focus is taken off solving the actual problem and becomes a mess of personal, imagined issues. This is what can hurt productivity and morale.

While we can't check our personalities at the door when we walk into work in the morning, we can strive to focus on the reality instead of the imagined. Ask a coworker or supervisor for his or her "take" on what is going on; take a moment or two to remove yourself from reacting emotionally and see if you can't get a more objective picture. If possible, put a little time and distance between your immediate reaction and the situation to allow for the real problem to reveal itself.