No matter where you are in your career you will encounter obstacles.
Obstacles Happen … How we react and overcome them defines us.
How we react to them is a strong indicator of who we are.
How we overcome them is also a strong indicator of who we are.
How do you respond to obstacles?
- Ignore them
- Take them personally
- Remain calm and deal with them head on
- Panic and Fear
- Procrastinate
- Hope they’ll somehow go away
Each of these may be a perfectly acceptable response depending upon the situation
If it’s something as simple as an interruption to your normal routine – perhaps an accident on the road or an unexpected delay in a project. When the obstacle is minor and the response is easy most of us just deal with them and move on.
However, when it’s bigger or when it has more of an impact we can learn from the way we react, respond and overcome them. Which can be an indicator of how we will deal with obstacles in the future. Which can be very insightful for your own edification and also for a potential employer.
Rate the following for severity:
- Forgetting your access card to your building at work
- Forgetting your wallet at home
- Losing your wallet
For these obstacles …
- How did you rank these?
- Are they big obstacles?
- Did they truly impact your day?
If any of these have ever happened to you how did you respond?
- Did they paralyze you?
- Did they cause a momentary pause?
- Did you barely give them a second thought?
How we resolve them is a strong indicator of who we are.
How do you respond, react and resolve the obstacles that crop up?
When interviewing for a role at a company prospective managers want to know how you will respond to obstacles – both big and small.
Think about scenarios you have encountered. Decide if there is a story you can tell that highlights your ability to deal with obstacles.
As I had written before managers want people that bring solutions. Managers want people that can make their lives easier. Managers want people that can react appropriately to big and small obstacles.
Of course, these same points apply at any point in your career.
For those just entering the workforce, taking the time to think about how you react to obstacles can help narrow down the right kind of role and company where you can do your best work.
For those that have been working for a while this can be an exercise for yourself or your team to think about the best way to work together.
Obstacles Happen … How we react and overcome them defines us.
Author:
Jeff is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is currently the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet (IBM), K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the Intersection between Social, Mobile and Cloud Computing.
