Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

A few months ago, I shared the 10 Irrefutable Laws of Management.  Since scribbling those thoughts down, more of those pesky "irrefutable"laws have surfaced.  Now, I could have integrated the new laws into the old list.  But that would have taken some effort.

5 laws...5 puppies. A stretch? Perhaps.  A cute photo?  Certainly. 

So, here goes...

1.  You haven't seen it all.  Experience is grand, and historical trends are wonderful.  But no matter how much experience you have, and how clear the trends develop, there will be new, unexpected things that will fill your plate.  Like yesterday, when a colleague told me that a car ran into NAFCU's building.  No joke.  Luckily no one was hurt.  Now, I could have uttered the phrase..."Now I've seen it all."  But that only would have tempted the Gods to throw another lightning bolt or two our way.  

Like I said, I wasn't kidding. 

As for trends, I always think of one of my favorite passages from one of my favorite books, A Walk in the Woods.  The author, Bill Bryson, is about to start hiking the Appalachian Trail.  Before beginning a new adventure, he always does something peculiar.  He researches everything that might kill him on the journey.  As he thought about hiking in the woods, he worried about bear attacks.  Folks tried to reassure him with trends.  Trends Mr. Bryson didn't buy. 

And how foolish must one be to be reassured by the information that no bear has killed a human in Vermont or New Hampshire in 200 years? That's not because the bears have signed a treaty, you know. There's nothing to say that they won't start a modest rampage tomorrow.

As my grandpa always said, every dog starts off not biting people.  Trends predict the future.  Until they don't. 

2.  You might not believe this, but people have good and bad days.  A colleague may be short with you. They may fire off a testy email.  Or two.  They may seem distant.  Well, stuff happens. Maybe she's having problems on the home front. Maybe one of his twins screamed the entire way from Boston to Washington, D.C, and your colleague is still dealing with the stress.  Maybe their favorite baseball team is underperforming. In any event, people have good days and bad.  Factor that into your assessment of them, and cut folks some slack. 

3.  It is very unlikely that it is always "their fault." A friend of mine had a terrible time dating women.  Every date was a disaster.  Every.  Single. One. Over a beer one evening, I casually offered up a thought: perhaps he had something to do with the problem.  If you are always in the middle of problems, and you think it is always someone else's fault...you are either very unlucky, or somewhere on the international scale of delusion.  

4.  You get what you want.  Sure, there's always trouble. But there's great stuff as well.  Like a colleague who nails a Microsoft certification.  Or a member service representative who knocks it out of the park. I find that people find what they are looking for in life.  As a manager, you will need to deal with trouble. But never forget to celebrate the good stuff that comes along as well.  And I promise you this: If you look for good stuff, you might be surprised by how much of it you find within your colleagues. 

5.  Chances are, what you are stressing about is likely not a big deal. Do me a favor, and look back at the last 10 or so times when you were really stressed about some work-related problem.  Now, looking back, how many of them turned out to be career-enders?  How many of those problems brought down the ship?  My guess is that you found a way to deal with those problems.  You worked your way out of them.  You found a solution.  So...stop stressing. And start thinking about how to solve that problem. You've done it before.  You can do it again. Granted, this rule doesn't always work. Sometimes, business ideas flop. But I've found that to be the exception.  But in any event, stressing about a problem is not as effective as looking for the solution. 

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So there you have it.  Five more irrefutable laws of management.  I hope you'll forgive the lighter post today. I needed the change of pace. I mean, a car practically tried to take us out this week. 

Have a great weekend, everyone.