Embracing discomfort: How to manage the unpredictable by facing your fears

Which are the scariest, most unpredictable topics to handle in our work? Which are the unknowns?

There are many ways of prioritizing work and in this post, I will share one of my favorite ones because it is based on emotions and not on rational thinking.

Situation:

Your team has blocks of tasks and there is a prioritization needed.

How much do we know about the work that is coming up?

How scary are these unknowns?

How do we know if there are any similarities in the topics or connections?

How do we know if we have the needed skills to solve the topics or if we need additional resources?

How often do we put ourselves these questions, before we start doing the work?

Why do we sometimes stay silent instead of expressing our concerns, when we know something might not work as everyone expects?

Is it because there is not a safe environment for us to express our concerns?

Is it because we “freeze” or “flight” away from the scary side of the work?

More about how our brain works when fears appear and what is an amygdala hijack in tomorrow’s post.

How to tackle the unpredictable first?

In order to know more about the work that is coming towards the team, you might want to look to the unknowns first.

How to do this?

When looking at your work, ask yourself, how much are these topics scaring you? How predictable are they?

Use a simple matrix with the following squares:

🎲 Not scared, not threatening: you tackled this topic and you know exactly what to do to solve it

🎲 A little scared: something that you went through the discovery phase already, you know good what is there, but still there is partially unknown in some corners

🎲 Pretty scared, I will run from it: something you did not touch so far, you have a slight idea about it but cannot grasp it in any way, no discovery phase was happening for it

🎲 End of the world, too scary to even think of: you know it is a big thing, it is very unpredictable, threatening and can become bigger and bigger if not tackled smart enough

🎲 Don't know: no idea what to do with it, not enough information yet to categorize it

Stay one week or more to figure out what is needed to move them into predictability, less scary squares.

Fact: If we are clear about our emotions, we can genuinely turn these unknowns into opportunities.

It is up to you then how in which order you will tackle them after placing them on the complexity matrix.

My preferred way is to run this matrix but also the “complexity” matrix but also with the effort/ impact matrix and then cluster the topics and tackle separately the ones that need discussions or a team to tackle them. As many ways to check from different perspectives will help you reach a better outcome. I approach it as a working matrix and review it at a recurrent time, otherwise, it dies there as any other matrix…

One-phrase summary:

Acknowledge your discomfort about certain work topics, and concerns you might have and embrace them. Be mindful of what scares you, by looking at the emotional part of your work, not only the rational part. Manage the unpredictable first and maximize the impact of the predictable.

Resources:

• The book “The Collaboration Equation” by J.Benson