Hard on problems, soft on people

This concept was introduced to me by an illuminated manager that I worked with and who has walked this talk on several occasions.

I've received the feedback to be "too fatalist" on occasions where things didn't go as expected. This has led me to reflect on how problems are addressed and how I could improve.

Problems are very correlated to people's behaviors. The very nature of feedback is to instill a change in the other person. Feelings are involved, we run on an area where a misplaced word may cause incomprehension and strengthen the problem.

Postponing problems may work in some instances, times fix things for us. Sometimes even a night of sleep may solve issues that at the moment are worrisome.

At work shit happens, facing these problems the hard way is the best to evolve at speed and leave no troubles to grow under a layer of resentment.

On these occasions is important to remember that people are doing their best under the actual conditions. That there could be other factors, even external to work, that we may not be aware of.

It is important to address problems with this state of mind and focus on making sure it doesn't happen again in the future. Bonus point if, in the resolution, there are no new processes built around that particular occurrence.

Everyone involved should have an understanding of the issue, possibly from different angles, and contribute to the resolution without blame on people.