Optimizations, consolidations, synergies, reorganizations – all of these are synonyms for the process of increasing the efficiency of an organization by reducing the number of employees. Those who “survive” work more. On the other hand, there is the pressure of the market, competition, regulators. It sometimes looks like an express pot in which modern managers operate. Working under stress can lead to “detachment”: I don’t know what’s wrong with me? My blood pressure went to 200! He struck my nerve! These are some of manager’s everyday sentences. When strong emotions overwhelm, it is hard to stay cool. And that is exactly what is required from managers – to stay restrained in order to make rational decisions for the organization and for himself.

The first step is to understand and accept that there is an objective business problem, but also to recognize that sometimes we unconsciously add “VAT” to a problem. This symbolic addition to a problem can be so distinct that it blurs the vision of the real problem, distort the image and make it irrational. And then the manager’s reaction becomes irrational.

Mirko case

Mirko is a field salesman who works for a large FMCG company. For Q3 (third quarter) he was set by a demanding sales plan. “This is horrible, no chance I can achieve this!”, Mirko says loudly to his superior.

He says to himself: “You gave me this, you do it!”. “Now I’m sure she hates me, otherwise she wouldn’t have given me plans like this,” Mirko says to himself.

What is objective in the above example is that the sales plan is more demanding compared to previous quarters. Everything else is an upgrade which is not related to facts. Mirko is overwhelmed with strong emotions, in this case – anger, which colors his thoughts and consequently leads to behavior that is in line with that way of thinking and the emotions that resulted from it. His attitude isn’t constructive, so the decision on what to do with a difficult plan will not be constructive either, if there is going to be one. Right now, he needs a “cool head” to make good business decisions. The world that Mirko sees is not real, it’s filled with enemies who “work on his head”. Mirko doesn’t see the situation and his boss as a whole – with drawbacks and with positive sides, he only sees one (bad) side of the picture.

A manager should see a broader, complete picture of the situation, other people, bosses, and the work he is performing. Only on this way he can see the problem realistically. With a holistic point of view of the world around him, as well as himself, emotions are no longer so intense which allows the manager to make a rational decision.

In Mirko’s case there are countless possible options of explanation why a hard-to-reach plan has been set.

That evening upon arriving home, Mirko asked himself: “Why did I react like this? What particularly drove me to react like this? That’s how I reacted two weeks ago when I had an argument at home! What can I do to try to reach the plan? Was I afraid of consequences of not fulfilling the plan and that’s why I was aggressive? What are the consequences? I’ll lose my job, how possible is that?”

Mirko later learned that the entire corporation had unrealistic sales goals in the third quarter. Someone at the top of the pyramid decided so. It was not the decision of the immediate supervisor, nor of her boss. Was it a fair decision? Mirko wondered if business decisions must always be fair. He remembered the cartoon “Kalimero” ant its famous sentence: “That is injustice!”. That made him laugh. His own behavior reminded him of Kalimero. Then he recalled that he didn’t actually remember having a hard-reaching quarter in the past. Mirko always fulfilled his sales plans up until this quarter. Maybe now’s the right time to learn that “always” and “never” actually don’t exist in reality.

Mirko always had great grades in school. He had a high average at college. For years, he has fulfilled all his sales and profit plan. He loved his job. Until this quarter. He had nightmares – he dreamed he got a C in math…Or did he get a C now and here, in this sales quarter?

He slowly began to realize that this sales quarter doesn’t define him as a person. He learned to better tolerate the feeling of discomfort of the situation he is in.

As Mirko began to think about the situation, his anger slowly subsided. The emotion hasn’t disappeared, it may have turned into justified anger, but his thinking was no longer in the categories of unrealistic extremes.

Will Mirko succeed in realizing the plan? We don’t know that, but he will act with a cooler head and constructively look for ways to do the job properly. He will look at the job as it is – as a job, without unreasonable “added value”!

From this and similar situations, Mirko learned not to make decisions when his emotions are intense. In similar situations, he began to ask himself questions about what is going on. He listened carefully to his answers. He also turned on his inner alarm system which alerts him to all black-and-white thinking – thinking in extremes. The change did not happen overnight because his previous automatism of behavior in stressful situations was developed for decades.

Vesna case

Vesna is a manager, she was appointed to that position a few months ago. Until then, she had been doing her job in the best possible way for years. She respected hierarchy, she never disputed bosses’ opinion. When she became a manager, she had the idea that all employees would behave exactly the way she treats her bosses –with a lot of respect for hierarchy. She had several Y members on the team who wanted to understand the meaning of what they are doing. In addition to searching for meaning in the workplace, they asked many questions, challenged Vesna’s ideas and felt free to defend their views. Vesna didn’t know how to conduct. The only person she thought she had good relationship with was Mirko. He showed the necessary respect towards her until a few days ago, when there came up a serious conflict between them. Namely, Vesna’s boss “cascaded” the goals for Q3, which were hard to achieve. Vesna didn’t object, she accepted the goals with a note that she would do everything she could to achieve them. She organized a meeting at which she presented new targets. The meeting was noisy, with a lot of challenging questions, but it ended beneficially. Only Mirko was passive. He accepted the goals with a couple of malicious comments.

That evening Vesna thought about the situation. She asked herself many questions:

“Do I represent authority for the people I manage? Why do they challenge my opinion? How about I try to challenge my boss’s idea with arguments? Will that cause mountain Avala to collapse or will Danube flow upstream? Maybe something can be learned from younger generation? Maybe I should invite Mirko for a coffee and listen to him, see what he has to say to me?”

By asking questions to herself and opening a window in her mind, Vesna gained some new strength. She was ready to look at the problem from a broader angle, to put herself in Mirko’s shoes and to really try to comprehend what was happening.

(“Novi magazin”, 2019)