How to Cut the Workplace Drama

“It's rarely the work that's the friggin' problem, she said. It's all the drama!”

”Okay, so tell me about it,” I said.

People drama. Deadline drama. Money drama. She told story after story. Each was the fault of other people.

”What's your role in these dramas,” I asked. “Hero, villain, narrator, set designer?”

Turns out, she was THE DIRECTOR. When there was tension and turmoil, she felt needed and useful. She swooped in and solved all the problems. She was the fixer.

In fact, this is how she organized the whole workplace to run. So, her system was performing exactly how she'd designed it. Each "mini-crisis" was an expected milestone, by everyone. It gave her a small shot of adrenaline. She felt deeply needed.

But, over time...she knew it was grinding her down. And, she was losing good people. Many were close to burnout. She knew SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE.

In this case, as the CEO, that something was her.

Went went to work:

First, we began to shift her approach to how she managed her time, and how she viewed delegation. We created a plan for how she could implement different systems and processes to inject calm the workplace.

Next, we unpacked this need to be needed. Where it stemmed from, and why, and how, might she change the way she led.

Finally, we built space for strategic thinking into her work week. This was work only she as CEO could do, but until now she felt was a luxury. She began to see it as essential and to put it first.

She was on a new path to calm. She wasn't going to be the "the fixer" any longer.

Leaders, leave the staging of dramas to theatre professionals. Calm workplaces just work better.

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