How to Manage a Difficult Situation

 

Tips To Deal With Difficult Situations At Work

Scenario 1:

You’ve made a bad decision and you’re asked to explain it.

If you try to explain this decision then you’ll simply make things worse. Remember, when you’re in a hole, stop digging. If it’s not too late then you may be able to change the decision. Or make some other change that improves the problem which the bad decision has caused.

For Example, if your decision means you can’t meet the deadline for a project, then perhaps you can find a way to move the deadline.

Unless you can provide remedies to the problems before anyone notices, it is far better to admit the bad conclusion than to insist that it was a good conclusion and trying to justify it. You can disarm people with an honest admission stating that you’ve made a mistake, followed by an apology.

Just remember:

• Be honest
• Don’t try to blame others for the bad conclusion – even if others were involved in it.
• If you’re talking to your manager then show that you recognize where you have made a misjudgment and what you learned from it.

Admitting the poor conclusion will show that you can be positive about putting things right. So, you need to have a plan of action to follow from the results of your verdict.

Instead of justifying the bad conclusion, you are thereby in effect saying: ‘I made a bad conclusion, and I’m sorry. But here’s what we can do to limit the damage…’ and then justify this follow up conclusion. You can offer a choice of action to put things right. Either way, show how you can stop the mistake from happening again.

Scenario 2:

Someone reneges on a promise but you didn’t get it in the inscription.

The first thing to do here is to double-check that you really don’t have a record of the promise. Is there an email still in the system regarding it? Have you kept any notes that refer to it? If not, are you quite sure that it is the other party, and not you, who has misremembered the agreement?

If you’re certain about the promise and you really don’t have any record of it then your next option is to appeal the other person’s better nature. Many people will respond, or at least work out a compromise. Don’t accuse them of cheating you. They will hardly co-operate. Tell them that there has been a misunderstanding and ask them to put it right.

If the other person is obstinate that they won’t budge then you may be able to go over their superior. Whether they are a colleague, a supplier or a customer, an appeal to their manager can put things right. However, don’t put their back up by telling tales of them trying to con you. Find a diplomatic way to suggest that they may have misunderstood you.

At the end, if you simply can’t get the response you want then you’ll have to live with the consequences. Consider ‘whether you want to do business with this person again or not?’ If you do, you certainly need to make sure that you get everything in writing the next time.

Scenario 3:

It’s exposed that you haven’t told the truth.

Now here’s a difficult situation in which no one ever wants to be. But it can happen to the best of us. We tell, what we feel, is a little white lie. And usually, we get away with it. When we get caught, the very fact that we lied often looks, far worse than whatever it was that we were trying to hide.

Honesty is always the approach to take. Don’t ever compound the lie or you could end up in big distress, simply for your dishonesty, regardless of how insignificant the lie itself might be.

You will undermine your own trustworthiness and make it very difficult for others to work with you.

So why did you lie?

• By accident: It may be that you weren’t dishonest, so guessing wrong. When this happens, admit that you believed that you were telling the truth but you hadn’t checked it. Apologize.
• To protect someone: Admit what you were doing, you feel you can reveal who you were trying to protect.
• You hoped it was true: Suppose your manager asks you how far you’ve got with the report, that’s due to be delivered on Friday. And you haven’t started it but because you know that you’ll have it done in time, you said you’re about halfway through. Your manager says, ‘Good because I need whatever you’ve done for this morning’s meeting. Can you please hand it over?’ You’ll have to ‘fess up, apologize and explain why you lied. In this case, you might explain that you knew it would be finished on time and you didn’t want him to worry unnecessarily.
• Intentionally: This kind of planned lie is often more serious. Perhaps you gave false qualifications when you applied for this job, and it’s just come to light. Apologize as always, and explain why you did it. For Example, ‘I knew I could do this job and I really wanted it. But I was worried that you wouldn’t appoint me if you knew I hadn’t been to university.’ Show that you’re sorry and understand that it was wrong.

  Scenario 4:

  You must make a close choice.

  Some choices are obvious. Some aren’t so clear but then it’s not that important. And then there are some decisions that are really tough. It’s a close call, and it matters that you get it right.

  It’s easy to defer this kind of choice but that really doesn’t help. You need to go through the decision-making process properly and then take the decision firmly:

  • Collect all the relevant facts and information that you can.
  • Consult the person whose input may be helpful. Remember that you don’t have to follow the advice you’re given – this is your decision – you just need to listen to it.
  • Think through the options and be as open-minded and creative as you can. Suppose you should make someone redundant. It doesn’t have to be straight either/or choice. Maybe you could offer two people a job share.
  • Maybe you could shift responsibilities and make someone who wasn’t on your original list redundant instead. There are usually more options than that are initially noticeable.
  • Evaluate each of the options. There are various ways of doing this which will help you to reach a decision. Try some or all of them:
    • Think about the worst-case and best-case scenarios.
    • Consider the likelihood of each of these scenarios happening.
    • Think through the costs of each decision for the organization, the department, the people involved, the budget, the production schedule and yourself.
    • List the pros and cons.
    • Ask yourself ‘what you would regret most if you do or don’t take each option?’
  • Rule out as many options as you can, based on your assessment.

  You have now been through every process necessary, to make this choice so you’d better take it. Usually, it’s obvious by this stage that even if it’s simply the bad option of several unsatisfactory ones.

  If there’s nothing to choose between two options, then you might toss a coin. At least you’ll have a decision. And if there’s nothing to choose between then how will you ever have a better method of deciding?

  Finally, whatever decision you will take, then once it’s made you must commit yourself to it totally. Even if you made it reluctantly, you must communicate it and follow it with conviction and confidence.

  Scenario 5:

  You have massively more work than time

  Everything’s important and people depend on you. You do have to find some time to deal with this problem. It may seem impossible but you can always find time if it’s important enough.

  Suppose the MD’s secretary phoned, to say that the MD wanted to see you for three hours tomorrow morning before they make their final decision on whom to promote. You’d find time for that, wouldn’t you?

  Once you make the decision that you should tackle this problem, you’ll find a few hours. Come early morning, or cancel a meeting or appointment that you don’t really need to go to and use the time you’ve freed up.

  So what are you going to do with this time? You need to be very attentive and go through all your work and sort it out. Don’t lose focus while dealing with anything during this session, you can do that later. For now, you need to organize your work and essentially, complete as much of it as you can. Be very ruthless or this process won’t work:

  • Bin everything that you can. Anything non-essential will have to go, papers to read and letters to write. If your business or your department can survive without getting them done, then don’t do them.
  • Say no to everything you possibly can. Make a list of meetings, appointments, and requests that you can probably get out of. Email your polite refusals if you can. It saves getting embroiled in long conversations or pressure, to get you to change your mind.
  • Delegate work which you can. Just remember that it’s irrational to offload three weeks’ work on someone, who is already snowed under. Ask them to complete it in the next three days. The more people you can delegate the work to, the more you can offload.
  • You should now have, a lot less work in front of you. On the other hand, you also have cleared a lot more time to do it. What’s left, however, really needs to be done. It’s all-important and you’ll be letting people down if you don’t do it.
  • The key is to organize. Organize the remaining tasks in order of importance. If a task is both important and urgent then do it first. If it is important but not urgent then you still need to get it done.
  • Schedule these tasks into your diary. You may need to come to work an hour or two early for the next few days, to work through everything. Be extremely strict with yourself about keeping time. Ban interruptions. If you have an hour for a certain task, then make sure you do it on time.
  • Make a rule that you won’t go home until all the tasks of the day are done. Schedule yourself to leave at a certain time each evening (it won’t help if you become exhausted and overstressed) but don’t leave until you’re up-to-date. That way, you will stay on track.
  •