There was an old British sitcom in 1980s titled Yes Prime Minister in which one of its episodes ‘A Victory for Democracy’, introduced what was called “The Four Stage Strategy”. That was the outline of the standard advice response given in the time of crisis. As much political satire as it can be, those strategies were eerily prescient about all manners of things.
Subconsciously in life, we all are obediently adopting “the four-stage strategy (of dodging a bullet)”, just like a guideline.
Before going further with the explanation, here is what “The Four Strategy” about:
In Stage 1, we said, “Nothing is going to happen”
In Stage 2, we said, “Something maybe is going to happen, but we should do nothing about it”
In Stage 3, we said, “Maybe we should do something about it but there is nothing we * can * do”
In Stage 4 , we said, “Maybe there was something we could have done, but it is too late now”
Every single problem that we are facing in life, always start small. It never came big at first. The size happened to be big because of the snowball effect, and by then you get overwhelmed by it and can only hope you don’t get crushed under it.
Stage 1. “Nothing is going to happen”
This is the point where the problem just occurs, and it is not that big to catch your attention. People tend to think that it will pass by itself just like the other problems previously and didn’t really think of it too much.
Let me give you 2 sets of examples from different backgrounds for you to be able to get into it quickly and you can choose which one applies to your situation best.
Life Example:
You smell gas at your home, but you’re in a hurry to go out for your appointment. You left home without checking your gas, thinking, “It might be someone burning something in their backyard. Nothing is going to happen”
Work Example:
An employee suddenly did not perform as well as he did previously after his proposal was rejected by his leader. Without giving him enough feedback to reflect on his mistake and build his potential, the leader demands of him to keep on performing well. No one notices anything is wrong with that situation, thinking, “Everyone has been through the same. Nothing is going to happen”
What can be done? It seemed simple and trivial, right? Yet sometimes this unseen problem can be a bigger thing.
In life example, it would not hurt to check your gas for even just a minute, just in case, it is leaking. Or perhaps it may be your neighbor. But it will definitely prevent bad things to happen either at your place or your neighborhood.
In work example, the leader of that employee could’ve given the reason for rejecting his proposal and try to guide his team member by giving him some advice so that the employee can gain confidentiality of himself and he can deliver more. Also, perhaps when the employee showed a bit of troubled face, the counseling team (usually HR or professional counselor or secretary, etc) can go and reach him out to show that the company also care not only about the profit but the mental health of their employee. It may sound impractical and idealistic, but this is also only an example.
Stage 2. “Something maybe is going to happen, but we should do nothing about it”
At this point, you may already know something is wrong but you still think someone will handle the problem for you, or that it still will pass by itself.
Life Example:
You knew your neighbor has the habit of burning their trashes, no matter what season it was. Yet this time is the summer where there was no rain for months, and yet the burning smell was different from the usual. You left home without checking what caused it because you thought that your neighbor is still watching the fire, “It is the driest summer and the neighbor knows better to watch the fire”
Work Example:
The high-achiever employee has flunked through the evaluation and became one of underperforming employee for some period. Sometimes during working hour, he went unnoticed for a long time without any of the team members knowing. Some thought he was on a meeting, some does not pay any attention at all to him that they didn’t even notice him gone for a long time, basically no one knows where he is. The behavior of that employee was noticed by a promising newcomer in the company, which thought that it was the company ‘culture’ while deciding to see what the company will do to him.
Now you may see that there * is * a potential of problem arises on both cases, yet what can be done? Still looking not bad, right? You still think that it is alright to let things goes on just like it is, right? But how do you know that it will not become a bigger problem if you do not try to look at it and analyze it. Perhaps it won’t need a solution, but perhaps it shows the potential of an outbreak.
In life example, despite knowing the neighbor habit, you can try alerting the people at your home before going to watch things. Or you can try looking at what kind of change-making the difference at that time. Or even making your own prevention by making sure your yard was not easily catching fire.
In work example, the problematic employee could have been warned by his leader for not doing the normal like their peers. It will be a different case if he was in a meeting and his agenda was open for everyone else to see, but even if any of the team member does not know, at least a basic check by the leader is needed. The behavior perhaps looked simple and not harmful, but it can affect other people thinking that they can do the same thing without getting any repercussions which will lead to a spread of toxic thinking within the company.
Stage 3. “Maybe we should do something about it but there is nothing we * can * do”
By this point, you realized that the problem already occurred for quite some time and the effect was something you may not think of. Regret may have started to sprout, and you doubt yourself of why you didn’t handle this sooner, yet it is quite late to do it. But it is better to do something on the early stage before it grows into an outbreak of problems in the future.
Life Example:
You got the call from your home, saying that some part of your backyard is catching fire and it has not been tamed yet. You thought that “maybe I should do something about it, but there is nothing I *can* do since I was away”, hoping that the people at home or anyone else in the neighborhood will help doing something about it.
Work Example:
The problematic employee was still doing his job but not showing any improvement for his job and everyone else were dissatisfied with him as well but cannot do anything. Some good employees resigned because of their disappointment with the company for not doing anything to such person, and some others were started to show some decline of their effort at work. While the company keeps on pressuring everyone to keep up with the target for the year, the other employees got discouraged because they felt the problematic employee didn’t work as hard as they were and even then he still got the same treatment by the company without any warning or punishment.
The problem right now is real. The effect of not doing anything on the earlier stage is starting to get big, and you feel that you also cannot do anything at this point. But if you do something, what can you do? And what will happen after you do it? And where should you go after that?
In life example, you can try to call your neighbor home, or someone else at your neighborhood to help checking on the situation. It may be a branch catching on fire or the ‘culprit’ was trying hard to contain the fire but it was quite hard to do due to the size of spreading and somehow he needs help from other, yet cannot even shout help sue to he is being too busy taming his own house to notice the surrounding.
In work example, the leader could have warned or advised the employee yet was not heed by him because the company, in this case the HR also did not even do anything or issued any warning letter. Or perhaps HR already issued the warning letter and he tried to do better yet was not given appreciation because the leader thought that it was what he supposed to do. And because of his existence, the other employee working drive was slowly dwindle down but the company didn’t know what they can do to contain the situation.
Stage 4. “Maybe there was something we could have done, but it is too late now”
The title itself is already pretty much self-explanatory, right? You already see the problem is huge, even spreading out. Yet it’s also too late to try to contain it so all you can do is just cutting out the loss and hoping that situation will get better in the upcoming future.
Life Example:
You saw in the news while on your way home that a certain area in your neighborhood was catching fire and it was spreading wildly to the other houses. When you arrived, your home was heavily burned and the people at your home was out on the street with soot on their face. The other houses on the same street as you were also caught fire and since it was found out early, the effect was not as bad as your house.
Work Example:
The company was doing badly for the year due to some good employees resigned and the sales numbers did not reach the target, so in the end, they evaluate the whole organization and decided to release several underperformed employees, including the ‘initial’ toxic. After that, the company was basically understaffed and struggling to get back to their feet to recover from their loss.
All things always started small. When you did not put any attention on things and ignoring it without considering the effect in the long run, all it will give you was regret. Any amount of regret, no matter how small it was, does not have medicine. But every failure you faced in life can be a guide on how to reflect on other aspects. Not every solution will be available for you, some need trial and error, some need time to solve it. But all result, no matter good or bad, can serve as an example to make sure your readiness to handle the next problem in life.
To end this, I will be giving some possibilities for solving or prevention for both examples. You may agree or not, this is also part of a learning process for me too.
In life example, the spread of fire can be stopped if the neighbor dug a hole and burn anything there while making sure that the surrounding of it is not dry and easily caught fire. An accident can happen anytime, but people can try to minimize it beforehand.
In work example, should the leader take notice of the change of his team member and try to encourage his growth, perhaps the employee would not become worse. Or else, if the company counselor can be a mediator once they saw something is different from the employee, it is also can be one of the preventions.
Yes, life and work matter is on a different level of difficulties. There is plenty of influences affecting your decision in life, but everyone has their own need. Their basic understanding of things may differ, yet their basic life needs are eventually similar. As the old saying said, “do things that you want people to do to you”, let us try to be a bit more aware of our surroundings and do not be afraid of tackling the problem. Until then, let us do a reflection of things happening in our lives and hopefully, we can gradually adjust how we are looking at the problem ahead.
=AS= 1st April, 2020.
