Information Technology Dark Side

Avoidance Behavior
Most people tend to want to avoid work they don’t enjoy or aren’t good at, regardless of whether that work is important or not. Mowing the lawn falls into this category for me. When the grass needs to be mowed, suddenly I’ve got a list of other things I need to do: wash the car, clean the garage, sell some old junk on eBay, etc.

Avoidance behavior around the yard won’t make you popular with your neighbors, and it can have an even more damaging impact on your reputation at the office. Do it too often and everyone will know you are a spoiled slacker.

You should fight avoidance behavior on two fronts: First, do the most important work first. Don’t let work back up on you just because you don’t like it. Second, examine the tasks you are avoiding and find a way to make them more palatable for you. Figure out what is about the task you don’t like and fix it.

Ignoring the Difference Between Different and Better
I once read about a psychological disorder where a person can’t decide between two options unless there is a clear advantage to one option over the other. If such a person was walking down a hall and encountered an obstacle in the middle of the hall where there was no distinction between going around it to the left or the right, they would be stuck. They would simply have to stop and wait fretfully for someone to come from the other direction and block one route around the obstacle. Once that occurred, there would be a difference between the right and the left, and they could then make a decision.

I see this type of behavior all the time in the office. Consider the following situation: A problem needs to be solved and there are three possible solutions to the problem. Each potential solution has the same result, but each varies in substantial ways. There are no clear advantages to any one solution, but each is favored by a different member of the team that must choose a solution. How do you expect the team to behave?

The team could literally simply flip a coin in this situation and move on. This rarely happens without the intervention of an outsider. Why? It’s simple – the people involved can’t tell the difference between different and better. The mere fact that the solutions are very similar in outcome makes it hard to decide between them and those involved begin looking for distinguishing features in the minute details of the solution.

Avoid this problem by staying aware of the pace of decision-making. Any time progress stalls to debate an issue, ask yourself if the differences between the options are really that substantial. If any one of the proposed solutions will accomplish the desired result, take yours off the table and lend your support to one of the other solutions. Or simply point out that you see all of the solutions as being equally viable and suggest some way of selecting the solution in a different context, such as which solution is easiest to explain to others or is most favored by your superiors.

Context Imperialism
Several years ago I taught my young daughter how to use a hammer. Suddenly everything became a nail – the coffee table, the car door, her baby brother. All of these things needed hammering (fortunately no people or property were permanently damaged).

It’s not unusual to develop favorite “tools” for dealing with problems at work and at home. Why wouldn’t we? They’ve worked for us in the past and they’ll work for us again in the future. Unfortunately, problems change over time and our toolboxes have to change to keep up. The old tools don’t need to be discarded just because new tools come along – no one buys a cordless drill and throws away their old screwdrivers! Instead, we recognize the context in which those old screwdrivers are still useful and keep them around for the appropriate times to put them to use.

It can be hard to tell when you’re being context imperial, unless someone else is considerate enough to tell you. Each time you face a new problem, ask yourself if there isn’t a better way to solve it. Find out what other people are doing with similar problems and consider whether another approach might be more appropriate. Perhaps most importantly, read actively about your field and keep abreast of the changes occurring in your industry.

Putting Content First
If context imperialism is bad, content supremacy is even worse. Content supremacy is the tendency of a speaker to ignore all the peripheral aspects of their message: tone of voice, body language, and meeting dynamics. Instead, they are focused on the only thing that matters to them: words.

Content supremacy shows up in several different ways, typically perceived as rudeness by the listeners. Interrupting, over-talking, and violent agreement are all behaviors that are driven by content supremacy. No matter how passionate or well-intentioned the speaker may be, these behaviors increase the difficulty of delivering a message that will be well-received.

Content supremacy is often caused by nervousness, stress, or a lack of confidence. It is also a symptom of disrespect for those around you. If you find yourself interrupting others, talking over them, or arguing over minutia when on the whole you agree, you are putting content first. The best way to fix this problem is to stop talking and start listening. Understand the concerns that other people have and talk about them. Put their content on the same footing as yours and you will improve your chances of being effective.

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