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Do Work Differently: Transform Breakdowns to Breakthroughs


Thank you for joining me. We're coming to the last video in this series, which is around inquiries that can help you to create sustainability and equality and develop the community among your team and your organization. This inquiry is into breakdowns. And I learned this methodology that we're going to be talking about many years ago and it has been so, so useful, not just in work, but in life. So the practice is to view a breakdown as an opportunity for a breakthrough.


So when things are breaking down, typically something is missing. So when we look at a breakdown, maybe it's an argument or maybe it is an inability to come to consensus or, you know, there's some kind of discord or disconnect in some way that things are not working. And when we look at that situation, generally it is that there is something that is missing. And that when you add that thing to this situation where there is a breakdown, then it can move you into a new way of doing things. So an example of this is like when you have a problem where you have done everything that you possibly can do in order to figure out how to fix it, and yet it is still a problem and it continues to be a problem. And you have used like all of your learning and everything that you have done in some way has actually created this problem because you're not able to see what is happening over here that can actually fix this problem.


And so you bring in support in order to break through this issue into a new space. This can look like bringing in a support person. Maybe it's in your relationship, a counselor, to come in and help you to resolve some ongoing issue. Or maybe as a business person, it's bringing in a coach to teach you a new way of doing something. I've had so many, I've had counselors and teachers and coaches all throughout my life but have come in in these particular moments of breakdown or where I feel stuck, who have helped to show me a new path. And so when a person has gone down the path that you want to go down, bringing them into support can be really helpful. And so when you have a team and a group of people where there is a breakdown, maybe, let's say in my professional HR, there's a breakdown around. People feel like they're being treated unfairly because they're not sure when they can take time off from work. And they feel like they just have to take the time because they need it. And this is one person thought goes that way and then.another person is just kind of like in and out and not really there and sometimes there and not like in away reliable where maybe they have been in the past.


Then there's a person who's like how do I take time off? And so the thing that can be put into this situation that can resolve a lot of these issues is just like a requesting time off, like practice or policy, right? Like when you want to take time off, this is how you request it.We'll get back to you within however many days and let you know whether or not that works with the schedule. And if it doesn't work with the schedule, then we'll talk with you and we can figure something out. And so just by in that situation, people having a lot of different kinds of feelings that are tied into taking time away from work, it gets into all their feelings about work and giving over their lives into work and it can create a lot of tension, right? But if you create a practice, a way for people to be able to request this time that they want to have, then that can solve a lot of issues.

And so that kind of gets back to what we were talking about standardizing processes in a previous, I think it was like two videos ago. It's not always a standardized process, right?Sometimes it is a person, sometimes it's a mediator, sometimes it is just a break. And so the thing that is missing that you bring in when there's a breakdown is the thing that will enable the breakthrough, the breakthrough to the different way. And so breakdowns happen so often in the world of work and there's a lot of emotions and a lot of things are tied to how we show up in the workplace. And so breakdowns happen and there are different solutions for breaking through. And if you are experiencing a breakdown, I know this is kind of like a general umbrella overview of how to view a breakdown as an opportunity for a breakthrough.


But if you are having a breakdown and you would like to have someone to talk to about it and to try to find a solution, I am here asa resource for you to be able to work through those things so you can feel free to reach out. And I hope that this was helpful for you.


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