Same different: One person's opportunity is another person's anxiety.
/By Duncan Anderson. To see all blogs click here.
Reading time: 3 mins
Summary: I’ve found the exact same thing at work can be perceived as polar opposites by different people.
One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.
One person’s opportunity is another person’s anxiety.
The opportunity to manage people for one person is really invigorating, for another it’s stressful.
The opportunity to project manager for one person is really invigorating, for another it’s stressful.
The responsibility to deliver a new product by a deadline for one person is really invigorating, for another it’s stressful.
One person’s relaxation is another person’s boredom.
For one person doing something they know how to do and do well is their ‘happy place’. For another person it’s boredom and restlessness; they want something new.
For one person having minimal time pressure is nice, for another person they want to push themselves.
Some people aim to be the best at what they do in the world, others want to ‘work to live’.
A place for everything and everything in its place. IMO there isn’t one right answer, and even for one individual they might have a different approach in different years!
I’ve seen people pre kids and post kids have different approaches to work. What is optimal for 25 year old you might not be optimal for 35 year old you.
Maturity = Understanding others don’t see the world the way you see the world.
Levels:
L0: Thinking everyone views the world the way you do.
L1: Understanding people view the same thing in different ways, sometimes totally opposing ways.
L2: Drawing continuums for how people can view the same thing (eg opportunity ⇔ indifference ⇔ anxiety) and placing different people at different points on the continuum.
L3: Consistently being able to place people correctly on the continuums thereby anticipating how they will feel about different circumstances.
Comment
I definitely used to think that others saw the world the way I saw the world.
I try to have my default be ‘what are the continuums of how people could see this circumstance?’ ‘How can we place people in this on the continuums?’
I don’t think a company wants everyone viewing things the same way (ie everyone views a circumstance as opportunity or as anxiety).
In some respects I see a ‘strong culture’ being characterised as ‘monoculture’.
I think a good culture is uniform in some areas, differs in other areas, and is always updating. Not 10 cultural values that everyone has to embody and that don’t update.
To me, this means inside the same company you have some people who view Circumstance A as opportunity, and some people who view Circumstance A as anxiety.
It means that what is relaxation for some is boredom for others.
Businesses are normally team sports. If you are playing soccer, you don’t want everyone to be a goalkeeper. That team is not likely to win many matches.
So having people who view the exact same circumstance in opposing ways, done well, is a feature, not a bug. Eg having someone who views product development on a deadline as an opportunity and another who views this as anxiety can be used to get better outcomes for the business than if everyone viewed it as opportunity. For instance at Edrolo I think you need people who love making high quality content for existing product recipes. I also think you need people who love making new recipes.
I find performance feedback systems can often push people to be the same. IMO you want a team with the highest winning ratio (aka the right different people in the right positions), not a team with everyone the same.
Having said all this
I find the biggest shortage is of people aiming to be the best at what they do in the world AND doing the work to become the best at what they do.
These people view almost everything as an opportunity.