When You Just About to Snap

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=angry+woman&iid=296176″ src=”0292/c47ff305-10a8-4751-8aba-045430184868.jpg?adImageId=12480100&imageId=296176″ width=”234″ height=”353″ /]Are you familiar with those moments when you just about to snap, scream out loud, or even punch someone at the face? Maybe because of a ridicules email you just received, a stupid remark raised in a meeting, or a comment that got you really irritated. If you ever reacted to such catalysts right away without much of  a thinking like responding to that email with overly heated language or start screaming at your colleague because of his or her really stupid comment in the meeting, then you should be really careful because such reactions could mark your decision making abilities for a long time.

I know that you might argue that it really feels good to respond to those fools who usually send meaningless emails and how amazing it is to confront those show-off-know-it-all kinda of people in meetings. And you might also think that the whole heat of the moment would vanish in a matter of minuets or hours after that. Actually, Andrade and Ariely (2009)* have something else to say; they are arguing that ‘the influence of mild incidental emotions on decision making can live longer than the emotional experience itself.’ In simpler words, spontaneous reactions could be part of your decision making process on the long run. The mind usually travels back in time looking for similar experiences whenever confronted with a situation, this unconscious journey could leads the mind to take the same decisions that have been made in those moments of anger and irrationality. So you could end up repeating your mistakes and attitudes again and again without even noticing.

This could explain the behavior of many managers who are repeating themselves over and over again dealing with different situations in a similar attitude and narrow minded approaches. Such repetitions would eventually  kill innovation and creativity and will lead the whole team working with such managers and leaders to frustration and demotivation.

So the next time you are faced with such situation, you better think it over, weight your response, and if you can, sleep on it. No matter how satisfying the immediate responses might feel, their consequences could be damaging on many levels.

* Andrade, E. & Ariely, D., 2009. The Enduring Impact of Emotions on Decision Making. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Vol. 109, p. 1-8.

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Internal Customers

Peter Drucker had once said ‘To Satisfy the customer is the mission and purpose of every business.’

Now, I am really wondering how many companies are living, or even believing in such kind of business philosophy. Needless to say, the purpose of existence and company’s mission are not things to be taken lightly. And I remember that I read somewhere about a leader who was gathering his top executives from time to time to ask them to state their company’s purpose of existence each from his/her own view and responsibility.

Now imagine extending the philosophy of customer satisfaction we started this post with to each and every part of the organization, to really believe in the concept of internal customers* and that each and every department has an ultimate goal of satisfying its customers.

Do not you think that adapting such a concept would ease the struggle between teams and different departments? Do not you think that it would actually release the pressure of the constant power struggle within organizations?

I believe it will … but let’s be honest, how many companies do you know that are adapting this concept; and I mean really applying it and not only talking about it for PR purposes!!

* The concept of internal customer has been recognized by Joseph Juran in his famous quality trilogy. Internal customers can be anyone in the organization, anyone who is painting a small part of the big picture that will eventually represent a product or a service provided to an external customer.

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