Many people like to “power through” difficult situations.  No matter the difficulty, they do their best to reach their goal.  It’s all about “pushing through" or “winning at all costs.”  Sometimes we achieve the goal and we celebrate.  Sometimes this approach causes harm — to ourselves and others — whether we reach the goal or not.

Powering Through Disrupts Connection

Recently, I listened to an excellent podcast by Pilar Orti discussing “The 3 A’s of Connection in the Workplace.”  I don’t wish to give away too much because it’s worth a listen.  To summarize, Pilar describes three types of connections to maintain at work:

  • ACROSS the work - through the actual tasks requiring socialization, communication, and relationship-building
  • AROUND the work - explain things we are learning as we work and share what we learn
  • AWAY from the work - connecting with coworkers on things not related to work

As I thought about the 3 A’s, I felt one was missing.  Reaching out to Pilar, she confirmed there could be a fourth. I also realized that "powering through" completely disrupts these different types of connections.

Thinking ABOUT the Work

We all have too much to do. So we rush on to the next thing without taking time to learn from our work.  A common phrase I hear is, “I just need to get s*(*& done!”

Maybe empathy isn't a tool in your toolkit. You don't care how this approach impacts others. That's ok. But it does have other impacts.

Looking at the work and the different impacts is possible — from a systems point of view.  You pay attention to getting the work done and look at the impact of the work.  If you “power through” work and feel surprise or fatigue more than victory, you might want to pause before you power on to the next thing.

Coaching others with these challenging results, I'll ask questions such as:

What did we learn from our work?

Was there a cost to doing the work?

Was there damage from doing the work?

Who benefited from the work?

Who felt the cost or the damage of the work?

How can we increase the benefit and decrease the cost/damage of the work next time?

Many senior leaders learned to “power through” and “get s*(*& done.”  Then surprise sets in when the work doesn’t quite have the impact they expected, the organization is struggling, or staff decides to seek other opportunities.

Do you see examples of “powering through” and getting these results?  Let me know.