Purple Line Consulting

An article from one of my favourite business blogs FastCompany.com struck a chord.

I have been fascinated by the behaviour of managers I have worked with who leave situations, particularly those that relate to people, to fester until they become a crisis. They then have to be dealt with as a knee-jerk reaction, rather than being planned and dealt with coolly and calmly.

The issue can be one of poor-performance issue, someone who is not towing the line or something that could lead to conflict. The manager then turns to HR for a quick and easy solution and is irritated when it doesn’t exist.

My advice has always been to deal with situations as soon as you notice them becoming a problem – you then stand a good chance of turning them around. If you sweep issues under the carpet you end up with tripped up by them and have to deal with them as a crisis measure.

I suggest that many of us find it uncomfortable to confront ‘difficult’ issues with other people and want to avoid conflict. Frequent dialogue and feedback as you go along is fairer, more transparent, easier to handle – and much more likely to be acted on. Try it and see.

A survey by Personnel Today confirms that

See also my article ‘Tough talking ’.