Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Nothing new here. Lack of planning still brings emergency responses and all sort of bad reactions.

I suppose we have to be reminded of this from time to time. There are various ways to say it like:

Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part

or

Your lack of planning is not my emergency

or, being blunt

Get your act together and stop bothering me

Sigh. Such are some of the things we encounter when working with others. Somewhere out there lurk monsters. Many of these monsters are small babies. Those small babies are growing while we aren’t watching. When we—or one of our colleagues—least expect it, out pounces the monster, and we have an emergency.

The key word in “we have an emergency” is “we.” Yes, we are in this together. We agreed to that when we stopped being me and started being we.

Aargh. I’m tired of “we.” I am returning to “me.” Maybe that is possible. Maybe that is understandable. Maybe it isn’t. I suppose I have to decide.

Have I planned for that decision or is it to be an emergency for someone else?