Better Working in the Backroom

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I have been experiencing quite a bit of negativity these couple of weeks and I am getting just so tired...

Edgy Period
First, I had to deal with the loss of 2 fellow workers, one of which was rather sudden. Then, I hear about some unhappiness arising since this is staff appraisal period for the whole organisation. Then I was taken aback by a colleague's action when she, either intentionally or unintentionally, divulged some info to my boss about another colleague... then I had that incident involving my website chairperson (though it seems to be settled now). Then yesterday, I was greatly upset when my article went through an extreme makeover. Then during this period, I keep getting volunteers coming back to me to ask me about their placement even after I have referred them to the centres... although I know my centres are overloaded but sometimes, I am just annoyed that I have to answer for my centres when they are slow to follow-up. Then today, I had to deal with some people's frustration and also heard about some awkward dynamics at a farewell lunch for a colleague today... I can't help but think this is a peak period for my organisation and everybody seems a bit edgy.

Emotions Fly High
I guess today's incident was the straw that broke the camel's back. I am currently engaged with a large-scale project which requires me to recruit and place a few thousand volunteers to help with fundraising in various locations island-wide, over a period of a month. Although I am not in this alone, I am quite stressed up, given the scale of the project. Maybe I am just giving myself too much stress. So, fearing I couldn't cope, I enlisted the help of a fellow colleague to help me with the scheduling and both of us will work closely with our neighbour department to schedule the volunteers.

However, I observe small hiccups whenever the location i/cs make changes to their shifts but fail to inform us about the change. It caused more confusion because we may have already scheduled a volunteer and now that the shift has changed, we have to call volunteers again to re-schedule them. In a recent case, a couple of volunteers had to be scheduled again and again because of this and this made my fellow colleague a bit upset; she felt kind of paisay (embarrassed) for causing inconveniences to the volunteers. Frankly, this is no good because it may result in volunteers having the impression that our organisation is inefficient. I can understand her frustration of having to deal with the influx of new placements and having to re-schedule existing volunteers.

Early in this morning, I think she decided that enough is enough and I got to deal with her frustration as she expressed her displeasure to me. Apparently, this time, she received a email from another colleague from our neighbour department informing us that another location i/c has made changes to the shift and so we had to re-schedule the volunteers in that shift. I guess that was also the straw that broke the camel's back for her. Many a times, I did explain to her that this is the first time we are trying out this method of scheduling volunteers for the annual project and it is far better compared to the manual method in the past. I keep telling her that these are teething problem and everyone is quite edgy during this period so we need to be cautious and sensitive in the way we go about things. Somehow, I do not know why I am so calm but then maybe it is not me to react or maybe God has already helped me to develop more patience? I did tell her that I will follow-up on the matter with the director from our neighbour department, to see how best we can tackle this issue. I then went on to spend the next few minutes carefully drafting an email about the issue.

I was careful to not finger-point because seriously that won't help during this point of time, what matter most is that we solve the problem. Anyway none of us was at fault since it was the location i/cs who changed the shifts without informing us who have caused all these problems.

Anyway, before sending out the email, I called the director from our neighbour department to discuss the matter. I wanted to call him to talk to him first before I send the email over so he will not misinterpret my intentions for sending the email. I also made sure I copied the email to my colleague and also colleagues from my neighbour department so they all know what is going on rather than just send it over to the director; this is not a complain letter just an email raising a concern to be addressed collaboratively.

The shock came after I clicked "SEND". As I was looking at my inbox, I saw a response sent by my colleague to the colleague from our neighbour department who told her to re-schedule the volunteers. Though it was a short email, it was nonetheless lethal because she said, in the email, that there seems to be some "missing communication link between HQ and the centres" and that this situation is embarrassing. Deep inside me, I sensed that this email shouldn't have been sent out and this might really spell trouble. I kind of resent the fact that my colleague did this because, while I can understand her frustration, I just cannot accept the fact how her email has just spoilt everything. It meant that the time I spent carefully drafting the email is now wasted. Frankly, I am quite upset that the email was sent and felt like telling my colleague that all future mails out should be cleared by me. But I did not want to make her feel I do not trust her. Anyway, I shelved this aside because everyone don't seem to be in the right frame of mind to address this, just in case emotions fly further.

True enough, I heard that the colleague from the neighbour department wasn't exactly thrilled to have received the email from my colleague. To her, it might feel as if both emails were sent to "attack" her even though my email (though long but) was clear that I was highlighting how the actions of the location i/cs has caused much inconvenience to us, including our colleague from the neighbour department. I wasn't even finger-pointing.

Better Working in the Backroom
This is really frustrating! Sometimes, it really feel like working in a backroom with little human interaction could be much easier, since I do not have to deal with human dynamics. This somehow makes me feel like staying as a ka gia (subordinate) forever because it seems that as one moves upwards in the corporate ladder, you will have more people working for and with you. That would means that you have to deal with more dynamics and differing expectations from higher management and your subordinates. So sometimes, better to be ka gia.

Maybe God is developing my patience since I asked for that 2 weeks ago. My friend joked with me and reminded me that I have to be careful what I ask God for because the only way to develop patience is to encounter people who will test your patience... maybe this is a test... sighhhh....

Email as a Tool for Problem-Solving, Not Conflict
(Picture "EMAIL Keys" by OmirOnia ) With email being a very common form of communication in our working world, I guess we have to be very careful how we draft emails and to know the spirit in which we draft the email in. Emails can be a potential source for conflict, as in this case. Over the past few months, I have come to realise that I have developed a style in drafting emails that seem to have went down well for many (although I must admit not all take to my style) and I really thank God for wisdom for that. When I sat down to talk to my colleague about email communications, I realise that my emails, though sometimes very very chiong hey (long-winded), have a few characteristics:

1. It is always drafted in the spirit of wanting to solve a problem rather than finger-point; I talk about the issue at hand or behaviour rather than the person
2. I focus on positives as well e.g. current effort already put in and ask how can things be better?
3. The intentions and rationale for the email is, as far as possible, communicated in the beginning part of the email so as to prevent misinterpretation of intentions
4. As far as possible, I try to talk to the person who I am addressing the email to to at least discuss the issue and prepare him/her that I am sending the email and explain the rationale before I click on "send".
5. There is a focus on "we" rather than "I" or "you" e.g. what can we do to resolve this issue?
6. Assurance of support towards the end of the email to show that I am also committed to doing something to resolve the issue
7. Email is (usually) properly structured to ease understanding
8. Using email as a tool for collaborative problem-solving rather than as a complaining tool i.e. copying to all involved unless it is a very sensitive subject. Leaving people out from communication can cause people to start guessing your intentions.
9. When I receive emails which made me jump out of my seat, I tend to wait a while before I draft a response or best, call the person.
   

Of course, I have more to learn and finetune because I deal with tonnes and tonnes of email communication with people every day; to centres, to colleagues, to volunteers and to other organisations.