Dealing with Oversimplification
Oversimplification. We have all been subject to it at some point. At best it is niavete and at worst it is manipulation. Frequently it is used to try to be expedient, which in my mind (and adminitedly, in the mind of my father) a bad word. Expedience is the cutting of corners to get something done faster, cheaper, with smaller impact than required - it's the removal of fundemntal process. It's getting by, perhaps, but sometimes with considerable loss in the process. It's different than determining you don't need the full result. It is requiring the full result without understanding or supporting the full effort.
What do I mean?
Oversimplification in this case is the reduction of the importance of or the effort untertaken to produce something.
When a manager picks a date two days away and tells you that five days of work needs to be done by then. Either they don't understand the work, only care that you say it is done or don't care about how much time you have to put in (usually some combination of those 3). After all, they're only asking you to do this simple thing.
Anything can sound easy from a distance. Let's take a couple of tasks that sound easy when said in a certain way but we know they're not;
A surgeon says to you "The surgery takes 15 minutes. I do 25 of these a day, you'll be in and out before you know it". All of which is likely true. But you now have 12 weeks of physical therapy, cannot drive and cannot type or write.
But imagine if the surgeon didn't really understand the work itself or worse, understand it, but not think that all of the required steps were important. "Well, you won't have use of your fingers anymore, but otherwise, everything will be fine:.
At home depot, they tell you "with this sprayer, you can paint a room in 20 minutes" setting expectations this is easy. Again true - with 2 hours of preparation, then multiple 20 minute coates and 45 minutes of cleaning the spayer, plus moving and covering furniture, vacumming ahead, preping the walls... it takes all day.
So this happens in business all of the time. The visibile work is described as easy and the real work required is not. Frequently, out of fear or resignation, the individual tasked with the work just complies and goes off to do the ridiculous, either overperforming and killing themselves or completely failing to meet expectation at the end of the process.
That's not to say that setting agressive goals is a bad thing, but they still need to be achievable without killing staff. If they are beyond that, they are more than stretch goals - they are a play to see how much power an individual has over another or others.
This is because reality will impose itself on any fantasy, when the rubber meets the road.
So, the trick is to get expectations to the same point. Frequently this involves making the oversimplifier part of the painful process, to bring them to the point where they see the ludicrousness of the request.
"I'll be happy to paint the room, but I will need help prepping the room, moving and covering the furniture, taping off the trim, vaccuming, prepping the walls, thining/testing the paint consistency. I will need to apply 3 coates, which will need to dry before another coat is applied. I'll need help with the cleanup because sprayers need to be disassembled, bathed in paint thinner, reassebled, run with paint thinner and then packed up. I'll need to remove tape carefully, remove tarps, move furniture back in place.I think this will take roughly a day - but depending on drying time, maybe two.
So in overcoming you need to modify the plan, to suggest additional help or assistance, then say so. Explain the details of the need - understand the requirement. And estimate what you need to do the job - counteroffer.
You only do this when you have to, and you are sure the request is out of the realm of the expectation set. It's not a matter of avoiding hard work (make sure it is not). It's not a matter of not being competent, although not having the tools, the authority or training to accomplish tthe job could be reasons it's beyond reason. But remember, that people can frequently achieve a lot more than they believe they can - so make sure the request is not just challenging your creativity or your willingness to expand yourself.
If the expectation is that you will do anything asked, no matter what, then reasonable boundaries need to be understood. If this is the expectation, and it cannot be corrected without risking unemployment, you need to conisder another job - or that you are willing to extend yourself beyond reason at the expense of some other part of your life. And there's a difference between a sprint and a marathon. You can make a decision to do either, but if the expectation is that you will run at sprint speeds for the length of a marathon, then it's time to take evaluation.
There are times when this can be an investment in your future. But it can frequently be an investment in someone who will plan on overcomitting you regularly. Again, you need to examine yiour values and your time.
Because in these cases oversimplification is being used as a way to achieve something without acknowledging the effort adequately - or at all. And if this is your life, oversoming may be a matter of freeing yourself.
So another part of of overcoming this is understanding yourself. What you can enjoy, what you can endure and indeed, what you can do. Remember - the power is yours.
What do I mean?
Oversimplification in this case is the reduction of the importance of or the effort untertaken to produce something.
When a manager picks a date two days away and tells you that five days of work needs to be done by then. Either they don't understand the work, only care that you say it is done or don't care about how much time you have to put in (usually some combination of those 3). After all, they're only asking you to do this simple thing.
Anything can sound easy from a distance. Let's take a couple of tasks that sound easy when said in a certain way but we know they're not;
A surgeon says to you "The surgery takes 15 minutes. I do 25 of these a day, you'll be in and out before you know it". All of which is likely true. But you now have 12 weeks of physical therapy, cannot drive and cannot type or write.
But imagine if the surgeon didn't really understand the work itself or worse, understand it, but not think that all of the required steps were important. "Well, you won't have use of your fingers anymore, but otherwise, everything will be fine:.
At home depot, they tell you "with this sprayer, you can paint a room in 20 minutes" setting expectations this is easy. Again true - with 2 hours of preparation, then multiple 20 minute coates and 45 minutes of cleaning the spayer, plus moving and covering furniture, vacumming ahead, preping the walls... it takes all day.
So this happens in business all of the time. The visibile work is described as easy and the real work required is not. Frequently, out of fear or resignation, the individual tasked with the work just complies and goes off to do the ridiculous, either overperforming and killing themselves or completely failing to meet expectation at the end of the process.
That's not to say that setting agressive goals is a bad thing, but they still need to be achievable without killing staff. If they are beyond that, they are more than stretch goals - they are a play to see how much power an individual has over another or others.
This is because reality will impose itself on any fantasy, when the rubber meets the road.
So, the trick is to get expectations to the same point. Frequently this involves making the oversimplifier part of the painful process, to bring them to the point where they see the ludicrousness of the request.
"I'll be happy to paint the room, but I will need help prepping the room, moving and covering the furniture, taping off the trim, vaccuming, prepping the walls, thining/testing the paint consistency. I will need to apply 3 coates, which will need to dry before another coat is applied. I'll need help with the cleanup because sprayers need to be disassembled, bathed in paint thinner, reassebled, run with paint thinner and then packed up. I'll need to remove tape carefully, remove tarps, move furniture back in place.I think this will take roughly a day - but depending on drying time, maybe two.
So in overcoming you need to modify the plan, to suggest additional help or assistance, then say so. Explain the details of the need - understand the requirement. And estimate what you need to do the job - counteroffer.
You only do this when you have to, and you are sure the request is out of the realm of the expectation set. It's not a matter of avoiding hard work (make sure it is not). It's not a matter of not being competent, although not having the tools, the authority or training to accomplish tthe job could be reasons it's beyond reason. But remember, that people can frequently achieve a lot more than they believe they can - so make sure the request is not just challenging your creativity or your willingness to expand yourself.
If the expectation is that you will do anything asked, no matter what, then reasonable boundaries need to be understood. If this is the expectation, and it cannot be corrected without risking unemployment, you need to conisder another job - or that you are willing to extend yourself beyond reason at the expense of some other part of your life. And there's a difference between a sprint and a marathon. You can make a decision to do either, but if the expectation is that you will run at sprint speeds for the length of a marathon, then it's time to take evaluation.
There are times when this can be an investment in your future. But it can frequently be an investment in someone who will plan on overcomitting you regularly. Again, you need to examine yiour values and your time.
Because in these cases oversimplification is being used as a way to achieve something without acknowledging the effort adequately - or at all. And if this is your life, oversoming may be a matter of freeing yourself.
So another part of of overcoming this is understanding yourself. What you can enjoy, what you can endure and indeed, what you can do. Remember - the power is yours.
Comments
Post a Comment