The Source Magazine UAE Issue 201

Frustrated at work?

Get curious with the frustration

Didn’t you choose to join the corporate world for some positive reason? Was that for the stability of at least one guaranteed salary in the household per month, the alignment of their vision to your dream, the ability to turn your phone off during vacation allowing for complete relaxation or even the opportunity to be involved with those juicy larger projects and technologies that you certainly couldn’t have access to if you worked for yourself.

The daily work grind happens to us all, with that very reason we chose to work in the organization being forgotten. For example, your colleagues are missing their deadlines with a negative impact on your own work; little to no communication is coming your way. Deliverables keep changing and the departmental silence is deafening. Resources are not being shared which makes your job difficult to complete. There is no such thing as a perfect organization, however, I can show you examples of executives who have transformed their careers by applying curiosity in the face of workplace frustration and being ‘in a relationship’ with it, rather than submit to a career of mediocrity or even resign as an escape.

Adults are babies in big bodies, and as such, it is only natural to explore and be curious. When there’s nothing to do, find something; be it relevant to the job or even a fun interlude that will open new opportunities. When there’s no equipment, find ways to move forward with other aids and resources or even create new systems that do not require that equipment. When there’s no structure provided, make your own winning formula. When there’s no relationships, go forge relationships that require new ways of human connection. When you don’t know how to use or maximize the technology, ask those who do (even privately is fine), seek input from forums or turn to different industries who probably use it differently. When we find new ways to produce, connect and work, we give our boss and those around us a reason to see our value while we ourselves are nurturing it.

The ability to be curious is in our human genes, yet many adults have buried it under the burden of daily responsibility. Start with small actions as simple as looking at something in a different way, walking into the workplace from a different entrance or even arranging your desk in a different layout. As frustration grows, so too can your curiosity with techniques such as asking the ‘5 why’s’, identifying each action that no longer is as efficient or effective as it could be or building prototypes.

Navigating frustration at work with curiosity will require an evolving ‘ecosystem’. Which elements do you choose to surround yourself with that serve experimentation and imaginative pursuits? Just like a healthy garden needs

bright light, fresh air and lots of nurturing, do you choose to surround yourself with open and imaginative minds, ‘can do’ attitudes and a learning perspective? If they do not exist currently, how will you bring those into your workspace, regardless of what others think or choose to do.

The results of applying curiosity to workplace frustration are clear and indisputable.

With your curiosity piqued, a natural chemical is released within your body called dopamine. It places you on high alert, has you focused and intrigued and provides a never-ending energy that redirects boredom to fascination. You pry, poke and prod until you discover new ways because the status quo is unacceptable. You no longer ‘spend time’; rather time runs fast and often there’s not enough.

You will catch the attention of others, opening dialogue and connection. You will likely have a contagious impact on others so they will either join you, or at the very least ask what it is you are up to. Either way, you are standing out and noted as being a proactive part of a solution.

Results will speak for themselves. Creativity and exploration will have you producing in unexpected ways; your ideas will flow and the desire to share will be highlighted.

Days are driven by success, albeit in new forms never thought of before. Your relevance to the department has increased and credibility is soaring, being a valued source that will be sought out during meetings and daily challenges.

The choice is yours. Do you choose to be under the influence of your boss’s inadequacies, inabilities or fears? If that’s not the case, then great! If those words do mirror your reality, you do not have to be a captive of that environment; create a sub-environment within. Apply curiosity and watch the world of work open you up into becoming more relevant, more credible and even more frustration-free. The choice is in your hands!

And oh, by the way, when you next free up a moment for yourself, is it worth being curios about why you are in your job in the first place?

Debbie Nicol, managing director of ‘business en motion’, builds org systems, frameworks and cultures through the services of training, coaching and solutions, helping move businesses and leaders ahead through change. ‘learning en motion’, a niche brand of ‘business en motion’ is a contemporary response for those leaders who feel frustrated in the workplace, enabling them to be part of the solution.

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Pete’s Story

Tough times were needing tough actions. He watched the budget dwindling month by month to a point where it seemed no work could be done. They even stopped subscriptions on many technologies, one being a project tracking system.

Had he reacted and given up, he would have become utterly demotivated because his projects depended on knowledge of progress.

Rawan’s Story

She was frustrated and bored as her managers never seemed interested in growing her. She was ready for a new level of skills and new challenges. Had she reacted and withdrawn, she would have suffered even more frustration

Choice point: She wanted to try to be part of the solution regarding the lack of teamwork, because not only did her department have that need, but her dream of being a manager would also require that.

So, she identified online self-learning opportunities, specifically related to a new form of collaboration that her department could benefit from; she studied a systems-based approach to teamwork.

Action she took

• Enrolled herself online

• Started sharing with people once she was making progress through the content, setting seeds in people’s minds that work didn’t really have to be as isolated as it felt currently

• At every point of the learning, she would stop and ask herself: ‘what’s stopping that in my department’

• She applied her learning a mini-team on a small project and quantified the results.

• Asked the others to list what was different about that project.

• They all together presented the outcomes.

• She offered to set this up in a cross-functional team across departments. Her success was growing

• She then learnt that weekend classes were available and enrolled to take her learning to the next step.

Choice point: Peter chose to explore new low-cost resources

Action he took

• He spent time with acquaintances asking lots of questions

• He googled ‘low-cost alternatives’ for [the project need]

• He created a ‘task breakdown’ into a process and matched actions with new techniques from ‘prototype’ models (ideas from internet)

Result that yielded

• He found at least two steps of the process could be communicated and tracked manually at a ‘community level’. He convinced others and set it up where there we no reasons not to use it.

Unexpected Results Another department offered an idea for the third step, resulting in a no cost, full solution. Although it was back to a manual system, it allowed projects to continue during the tough times.

Results that yielded

• People started speaking about the benefits of working as a systems-based team

• Unexpected Results

• Rawan became the ‘go-to’ person for advice when frustration or inefficiency appeared in teams.

• She was asked to add a small column in every newsletter

19The Source