The "No Problem" Problem

I've lost track of the times I've been told in someone'sone area, I move ahead on another track.
positive or naïve thinking mode, "No problem,"Two, help them, help you. Information crucial for you to
only to have the no problem become one. At the timemove forward may be low on someone else's priority
they said it, there might not have been a problem, butlist. So help them help you. Write the copy, then get
they didn't factor in workplace potholes, speed bumps,their okay. Develop the spec, straw person or outline
detours or traffic stops. Like a high-wire acrobat in aand have them sign off. Complete the funding
Cirque du Soleil performance, winning at workingdocuments and shepherd them through the approval
necessitates the use of safety nets with your work,process. Write the proposal and give it to them or their
too.staff for review. Bottom-line? Figure out a way to help
If you're on a project team or dependent onthem help you.
information, research, systems development, creativeThree, use pre-established lifelines. Work lifelines are
materials or work from anyone, their ability to delivercomprised of people you know that you can tap in
what you need, on time, can pose challenges impactingcase of a crisis. Maybe they're friends or family or
your results and credibility. So can direction changes,colleagues, but by nature of your relationship, you
budget cuts, project enhancements, staff or bossknow they will do most anything for you, and you for
changes, timetable adjustments and a host of others.them. My husband is one of my lifelines, known to
People who aren't winning at working often believeshow up as an extra pair of hands, solve a technical
reasons outside of their control mitigate their less thancrises at 3:00 a.m. or jump into problem solving as
optimal performance results. But they're wrong. Comeoptions fail.
annual increase time, your boss won't remember theFour, have a specific plan B. The operative word is
problems you had. She'll remember if you deliveredspecific. Most people think about a Plan B when plan A
what was expected or you didn't.unravels. But the time to think about B is when planning
People who are winning at working understand theA. Working the details of your preferred plan alerts
importance of delivering results. They also understandyou to elements at risk, so figure out if x does happen,
that in order to consistently do that, they need safetyprecisely what you'll do. We did that during the 2006
nets to protect them from a fall, enabling them, andblizzard that closed Denver's airport. Wanting to see
their teams, to build performance trust. There areour two-week old granddaughter at Christmas, Plan B
many ways to weave your performance safety nets.included packing our car for a 1000 mile trip before we
Here are four favorites of mine.went to the airport, in case the flight was canceled.
One, work in parallel tracks. People typically work in a"No problem" problems will emerge. So, people who
linear fashion, so changing your approach allows you toare winning at working expect the unexpected and
work through theirs. I'm currently using four parallelplan for the unplanned to insure their performance
tracks for my new book, Hitting Your Stride (Capitalsuccess. They understand, as Napoleon Hill put it, "The
Books, January 2008). These include: building anmajority of men meet with failure because of their lack
audience (platform); writing the book; developingof persistence in creating new plans to take the place
marketing approaches; and learning the book business.of those which fail."
So, when waiting on issues outside of my control in(c) 2007 Nan S. Russell. All rights reserved.