Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Competence evaporates when we are upset. There are some things we can do to work our way back to competence, but they are not easy.

I recently watched a group of otherwise competent people behave in a most incompetent manner. They had an excellent excuse as they were under great emotional stress.

Hmm, is this a coincidence? Emotional stress and evaporating competence? No, it isn’t a coincidence. I have seen it happen often on projects and especially with project managers.

The project is late, over budget, under staffed, etc. People are yelling. Smart people act like they were stupid. I’ve seen it too many times.

Calm down.

That is simple advice, but it just doesn’t seem to apply to people who are hurting, angry, and any other number of stressful situations.

Let’s try something more complicated.

1. Recognize that you are upset.
2. Find a checklist to follow.
3. Follow the checklist.

Of course this means that you have created a checklist when you were not upset. That is usually not the case, but if you are having a calm day, make a checklist. Still, the biggest problem is step 1.

Try this one.

1. Have a good friend.
2. Ask your friend if you are upset.
3. If the answer is yes, ask them to be your checklist.

Again, step 1. is the most difficult, but it is a start.