Reflections

I few years ago I worked for an individual that I consider to be the King of the one-liners. When ever an odd or unexpected situation occurred he was always quick to action in finding a resolution, and often when the problem was solved he had a one-liner that fit the event. When a person was missing, and we suspected that harm might have come to them, his immediate action was to tell the people in charge before they found out on their own; his one-liner was “Don’t be the senior person with a secret”. When one of our workers missed a deadline; his one-liner was “never let a problem become an excuse”. His most used one-liner had to be “Unlike wine, bad news does not get better with age”.

After years of his constant comments I had learned to let most of them in one ear and out the other without much of a thought.  Later the “bad news” comment made me think about many situations in the past where avoidance was my method to problem solving, and the mechanism for my demise. Quite often I would find myself in a difficult situation where I felt like I needed to say something. I would then consider how the recipient of my comment might feel when confronted, and in the interest of saving someone, or myself hard feelings I would hold my tongue.  At the time this seemed like the best way to handle awkward situations, but in reality I was often only making things worse. More than a couple of times I would hear about a person having problems over a situation that I could have prevented. When that person made a comment, took some improper action, or just plain messed up in front of me I gave them a pass instead of saying something. My comment might have caused an uncomfortable moment for this person, but in the long run I could have given this person the information they needed to keep from falling on their sword.

In reality bad news never gets better with age. I have learned to confront problems, even the small ones quickly and decisively. If the person that I talk to has only made a mistake and they are aware of it, they usually don’t get all that upset by my comment. Some of the people that I do confront take it badly at first, but when they have time to think about it they will often thank me for the help; and improve themselves with their new found knowledge. Others still just don’t get it and probably never will; until it’s too late. I have found this kind of communication can be a vital way of improving a relationship, instead of damaging it. Most people would rather know if there is a problem so they can fix it.