What will I get from subscribing to Leadership Tips?
Each month you will receive an email that describes a common situation that managers encounter, a brief analysis, and a recommended solution that you can immediately put to use.

The Situation
Have you ever been in a meeting where most of the time was spent on blaming some department, person, policy, or circumstance for the team's inability to complete a project or goal? If so, you probably heard phrases like, "If Marketing would just quit changing the strategy we would be able to set a deadline and meet it."

What is going on?
In a performance culture, it is human nature to shift negative attention to someone or something else. It becomes a survival skill even if it just helps us feel a little better in the moment. Deep down we all know that this is unsatisfying and unproductive.

The dissatisfaction stems from the desire to do a good job. We believe that each person does want to make a positive contribution and to be responsible and accountable. Complaining and blaming is wasted time. Imagine if just the salary and benefits for everyone in a one-hour meeting were tracked on a meter!

The Solution
Use this series of steps to redirect the meeting to a productive action:

1. Acknowledge the truth of the situation. There is always some truth to the complaints. "Ok, I agree Marketing changes its mind too often and that makes our job tougher."
2. Move the group's attention to what they want, rather than what they do not want. "Imagine some miracle occurred and things are going exactly how we want. For now, it doesn't matter how it happened. Describe our relationship with Marketing." This is enough to get going and you will need to prompt people to get specific about who is doing what, how, and in what amount of time.
3. Take action. At this point there will be many good ideas. Now some actions are required to make the changes. Ask, "What are at least two things that will move us closer to what we really want?"
4. Accountability. Be sure to document the action items. A complete action item includes who will take the action, what will happen, a deadline for completion, and finally communication about the results.

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