It is a phrase that you have surely heard or even said at some point in your personal career.
It usually happens when something negative has happened to us, when something has not worked as it should. From an unexpected dismissal, to a campaign that has gone wrong.
It is true that there are things that can escape our control, and we do not see them coming. I am talking about the remaining 95% of cases .
In the first years of work it is relatively normal and even acceptable. Lack of experience means that we do not see things coming. But once we have matured professionally this should not happen.
As always when I write in this section with the original name (thoughts) J, I am not trying to give lessons to anyone. I am the first one who makes mistakes every day. I simply indonesian phone number want to highlight a behavior that is detrimental to our professional career.
The second part is our way of assuming 'unexpected' mistakes . From my personal experience, people who 'don't see it coming' tend to look for someone else to blame or to blame (very typical of Spanish culture).
This is when we start to hear phrases like: 'nobody told me', 'if Pepito had done such a thing', 'I can't be involved in everything', 'but I do my job perfectly',…
That is, on the one hand we don't realize what is happening and on the other, we assume (or not) the error.
'I don't understand what happened, I didn't see it coming'
In the 95% of situations I am referring to, there will be cases in which we can do something to solve it, and in others we cannot, because it is outside our field of action (I consciously avoid the word responsibility).
It is one thing whether we can do something or not, but that does not prevent us from realizing that 'something' is happening.
Therefore, it is a problem of disposition at work. It depends on our level of alertness, on whether proactivity is part of our way of being.
If we have this disposition, we will be able to detect these problems that come to us (without becoming paranoid) and act accordingly.
'Nobody told me, what happened is that…'
Once we are aware of the situation, how do we act?
Do we take all the blame (our own and that of others), only our part, or do we look for the fault outside of ourselves?
In psychology (one of the few concepts I understand) this is called locus of control . It is the perception we have of where the origin of this adverse situation is located.
Like many things in life, I don't think we should take blame that doesn't correspond to us (we fall into victimhood and harm ourselves excessively), nor should we pass the buck no matter what happens. But when in doubt, I think we should take on more blame than we should.
Proactivity, responsibility and desire
What is the right attitude? I don't think there is a one-size-fits-all attitude to work
. I don't believe in recipes, but I do believe that a good attitude is key to making things work. From my point of view, most of the situations I've described in this post can be avoided with: proactivity, a desire to work and a sense of responsibility.