The land of pride, ego, confusion, fear, resentment, trustlessness, and drama
This is the story of a land of pride, ego, confusion, fear, resentment, trustlessness, and drama. This is a story about a land without process.
When I started working as an administrative assistant, the tasks were easy. Just do the daily work my boss needed done. Wait for instructions and follow them. And as I grew into new roles, with more responsibilities, I was trained on the basics for a few weeks. It was all relatively simple. But when something new came up and my boss wasn’t available to answer a question, I was stuck in fight or flight mode, not quite sure what to do next. Often, I took a message or told someone I’d have to get back to them. Other times, I guessed. That wasn’t so bad — the job was not life or death, but it made me really uncomfortable to have to make decisions without knowing what the right way was. And when I was told I made a mistake, my internal response was, “well, no one showed/told me how to do this.” The small bricks for the wall of resentment began to stack.
One day, my boss’s boss came for a visit. I told her I was making a deposit. She asked why I didn’t close the invoices, marking them as paid. I told her I was never told to do that, no one ever showed me. I was just told to make a deposit. She seemed upset and later informed me that the accounting system wouldn’t balance if the deposit was made without the invoices being closed and marked as paid. I felt embarrassed. I wanted to make a good impression on the big boss and felt like I was in trouble. And out came another brick for a new wall, the wall of fear.
I made note of the instructions she gave so I could reference them in the future. From this point forward, I began to document everything new I learned so I would never be caught in that position again. I was trying to prevent myself from making any mistakes. The wall of fear slowly stacking higher. Eventually, I began to try new things that I thought were improved ways of doing my job. I was recognized for these improvements. I was asked to train others and was able to do so because I made copious notes. I had a sense of pride in my work and for figuring things out on my own. I began to relish the pride of figuring things out on my own without ever being taught. This was when the wall of pride started to build.
I was often left confused by this way of operating. To me, it seemed absurd that although people in my same position in other branches performed the same functions, we were all doing things a bit differently. It just didn’t make much sense to me to have to spend so long figuring it out when others had already figured it out. Out came the next few bricks for yet another wall, confusion. When my boss would question my work or decisions from time to time, I’d be defensive and say, well no one ever taught me, so I figured it out myself. It felt like my boss wasn’t grateful for all the work I put into training myself and documenting the how-to guide I was never given. Whether that’s true or not, that’s how I felt in those moments. The wall of resentment grew higher, putting a knee-high barrier between me and my boss.
Maybe I was being overly dramatic, but that’s how it felt to be left to do a job without instructions. I was growing prideful and resentful. Our working relationship slowly began to deteriorate. My trust in him to lead me and his trust in me to show up to work grateful and without an attitude began to erode as the safety net in our space began to lose slack. The wall of ego was erecting fast, this time from both sides. The elements of drama were ripe for a reality series. Or, if not made for prime time TV, it was at least prime entertainment for storytelling at happy hour.
Over the years, I’ve heard dozens and dozens of leaders, or rather people in leadership positions, say “I never had instructions, I learned on the job.” “it’s just going to take them years to get really good like it did for me,” and other ways of basically saying, “life doesn’t come with a handbook, kid… figure it out.”
This is the land without documented processes. A land where employees are not properly trained how to do things at your company, the right way. It’s a place where people feel they are in uncharted territory (even when they aren’t). It’s a trail without clear markings or a map, and it’s all uphill. This is the land of pride, ego, confusion, fear, resentment, trustlessness, and drama. And I’m betting it’s probably the opposite of the type of culture you’re looking to build at your company.
I’m not telling you that documenting your processes is an absolutely mandatory thing or that it will eliminate ALL of the challenges associated with building and growing a business, but what I am suggesting is that you ask yourself… is there room for any additional confusion, fear, pride, ego, trustlessness, resentment, and drama in your business? I assume you’ll answer no. And if you are currently experiencing any of these symptoms, what are they costing you? If this is the culture that’s being created, how long will people want to work there and how successful and productive will they be? How will they treat their coworkers and customers if they’re always just trying to figure out how “we do things around here.” How much fun is being missed out on in that type of environment? If you want less drama and a culture that runs itself, and you want to drill down to the root of the cause of any of these symptoms so you can eradicate them, consider documenting your processes and letting your processes run your business so you don’t have to.
In the next several posts, I’ll show you what documented processes make possible for your business, why you should manage your business by your processes, and how to build processes with a simple step-by-step guide for rolling this out in your organization.