Introducing "Food for Thought" #50. The formula is simple: three short messages once a week to feed your mind.
Management
The famous culture of urgency
Imagine this scene: you receive an e-mail from a colleague requesting a document immediately. The stress overwhelms you, to the point of interrupting the meeting you're attending.
In our own way, we all contribute to the culture of urgency in our organization. Here are a few typical behaviors:
- Respond instantly to colleagues' requests.
- Interrupt meetings to answer calls.
- Organize last-minute meetings.
- Wait until the last moment to communicate important information.
- Setting unrealistic deadlines for the workload required.
- Make work requests "just in case".
- Not clearly identifying priorities at the start of the week.
To ensure the long-term viability of our organizations, we need to challenge this culture of urgency. Fortunately, solutions do exist. We continue at points 2 and 3.
Recovery
Rest, an antidote to the emergency
Urgency is often a matter of perception. When everything seems urgent, it's because we lack clarity. It happens when we're so overwhelmed and exhausted by our daily tasks that it becomes difficult to step back and see things clearly.
The trap is to think that we fight the culture of urgency by doing more, by working harder! Instead, we combat the culture of urgency by valuing rest and setting its limits. Considering rest as a form of reset allows us to regain clarity and see things in a better light.
State of mind
Replace fear with passion
In workplaces where the culture of urgency is omnipresent, a sense of fear reigns. It's the fear of making a mistake, the fear of judgment, the fear of not measuring up, or the fear of being reprimanded.
Now imagine replacing that fear with passion. Think of the mission you serve every day. As you connect with that essence, imagine all the potential you can unleash. When your sense of urgency is fueled by passion, not fear, you become capable of moving mountains.
