The Road Not Taken: Not My Problem

Sometimes someone has to look at the end-goal and say, “That isn’t our goal and this isn’t our problem.”

lawyer shruggingI recently returned from a week of inter-department meetings where we discussed how our sub-division within the Legal Department interacts with other departments. It was productive, maddening, enlightening, and frustrating.

The good stuff first. The meetings were productive because we learned a great deal, made progress on group projects, and met new people outside the legal sphere; enlightening because we got to see how a different site we support operates, learned the needs and goals of these colleagues, and saw how those needs and goals directly relate to their everyday activities.

These meetings were maddening and frustrating because we learned of our colleagues’ annoyance with how we do our job and its impact on their effectiveness. Some were more tactful than others, but the message was the same: You aren’t making our jobs as easy as we would like.

For me personally, the most enlightening lesson came from my boss. When we took these complaints/requests from our colleagues back internally, I was ready to start looking for a solution. My boss told me to stop. We do our job well, she said. If the result of us doing our job well is frustration on the part of our colleagues, that is their problem. They either need to re-calibrate their goals or re-calibrate their expectations of us. The solution to their problem is not for us to adjust what we know is quality work.

Her insight impressed me. We are often told to be team players; that we can make ourselves more valuable by taking on more and by looking to solve problems raised by others. That mindset is great when a team is aligned on the actual end-goal and the right problem is being solved. It is not, however, beneficial when the conflict is: a) not mutual; and b) does not result in a win for the parties involved. This analysis is painfully obvious, but so often corporate culture maxims push the obligation to cooperate without further discussion into when cooperation and concessions are not appropriate. We are brainwashed to compromise so as to “keep the ball rolling,” when really, standing firm is the best action.

“Working together.” “Going the extra mile.” “Be part of the solution.” “Teamwork is greater than ‘me-work.’” These are all corporate culture tag lines placed on banners and fliers throughout offices all over the world. Each of these directives assumes that the goal is worthy of the efforts, cooperation, and concessions necessary to reach the desired results. Sometimes that isn’t true. Sometimes, and this is when strong leaders and managers show their value, someone has to look at the end-goal and say, “That isn’t our goal and this isn’t our problem.”

If my boss hadn’t explained that our colleagues’ issues were not with our work product, but rather with their own frustration with their jobs, I would have expended unnecessary energy trying to fix a problem that wasn’t mine to fix, that I am actually incapable of fixing, and that would likely result in a lower quality of my own work. By solving my colleagues’ problems, I’d be creating more of my own. If that happened, then it really would be my problem.

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Celeste Harrison Forst has practiced in small and mid-sized firms and is now in-house at a large manufacturing and technology company where she receives daily hugs from her colleagues. You can reach Celeste directly at C.harrisonforst@gmail.com.

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