If it were a Snake.....It would have Bit Me

Mornings are always a busy time in my world. I am sure many of you can relate when I say there are a lot of moving parts to getting out the door and on the way to work. One day this week I was loaded in the car ready to go and could not find my keys. I looked all around the car and could not find them. I went in the house and still no keys. Frustrated, I went back out to the car and there in the driver’s seat were my keys. I had been sitting on them the whole time!

It reminded me of a situation I witnessed several years ago when I was in an airport and a 20 something young girl was waiting for the flight. At some point in the waiting period, it became obvious that she was desperately looking for something and was becoming frantic. She had lost her ticket and boarding pass with her ID. This was before tickets on your phone. One by one, all of us waiting passengers were sucked into the drama that was unfolding. I cannot adequately describe how worked up this girl was and how engaged the whole waiting area was in helping her look for her ticket. After about 20 minutes of this, she stood up to go to the restroom and she had been sitting on her ticket the whole time! There was an audible sigh of relief and cheers from the passengers when she held them up.  Here is the thing about these two stories and the reason I share:

1. Sometimes the solutions to our problems are so close, but we must be able to move to find them.
2. When faced with adversity instead of hunkering down, get up and move your view of the situation. The solution may be readily accessible when you look at the problem from another angle. Sometimes we are sitting on the solution.

Turning Bad to Good

Here is a trick I learned years ago from my sister-in-law when my nieces were growing up: at evening mealtime they would share the one good thing and one bad thing of the day. After the bad thing was shared she would always say, “flip the lid,” meaning what would make the bad thing better. I encourage you to look for opportunities to flip the lid when obstacles arise. Be the coach and mentor that helps your team look for the positive in the hard situation.

It's been said in this blog before, but leadership is hard. It is sometimes like being a blind juggler trying to keep all the balls up in the air. Any leader or supervisor of humans must juggle personality differences, communication styles, and generational difference, plus set expectations and ensure that  work projects are completed correctly. Coming up in December and January, we are launching a four-part course, Supervisor Success: Essence of a Supervisor’s Job, where we will discuss the key aspects of being an effective supervisor. You can learn more and register here. 

In the meantime, think about what you can do to move your view of situations so you are not sitting on your ticket and remember when faced with the negative to “flip your lid.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we are celebrating Thanksgiving and our view from where we sit would not be complete without saying how thankful we are for you and all you do for rural health. I hope you have time this week to spend time with your family and friends and count your blessings. Eat lots of turkey and enjoy.