Coffee House Book Review – “Workarounds That Work” by Russell Bishop

Attending meetings that are created mostly for people to share with others various updates from their divisions instead of discussing what needs to be done next. A partnership initially created between two companies to allow them to land a large-scale project ends up becoming a source of distrust between the collaborating businesses, leading to costly delays as each side questions the real motives of the other firm. Spending hours in a committee meeting attempting to decide which option should be pursued over others as the least likely to end in failure.

These are just a handful of some of the scenarios that author Russell Bishop delves into, breaks down and provides clear strategies to overcome and hopefully improve on in his new book “Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work”.

From the very beginning of the book, Bishop makes it clear that the key to overcoming any obstacle or challenge that stands before us is ourselves – specifically our own perception or how we choose to frame a given situation. He divides the work environment into three distinct sections – what we can control, what we can influence, and what we simply respond to – and points out how most times, our focus is on what we respond to and not on that which is within our abilities to control and manage.

Working from this vantage point, Bishop describes three key steps that readers can take to ensure any change or improvement they put forth is more than a mere band-aid solution:

1. Intention – your focus and commitment to making a needed change.
2. Accountability – your willingness to own the outcome.
3. Response-ability – your choice to control and influence what you can.

Throughout the book, Bishop shares a number of stories from individuals, small businesses and large corporations where we can see how making this shift in perception and taking ownership for their part in improving the situation can lead to tangible and long-lasting results. In one example, he shares the story of how one Florida hospital was able to clear away 60-70% of issues currently on their plate simply by having employees assuming responsibility for changes they could make on their own without having to wait for others to join in.

Another important theme that is repeated throughout the book is the idea that “people do things for their reasons, not your reasons”, a point that Bishop uses to encourage readers to move beyond relying on assumptions and instead finding out what are the goals or motivations of the other team members or departments they need to work with. With this knowledge at hand, Bishop says that leaders and employees will have a much easier time encouraging collaboration among team members, departments, or organizational partners because it will be easier to draw connections between how their helping you with your objectives will help them in reaching theirs.

An example he shares that demonstrates this principle is of aeronautics engineer Armando Martos who had to work with a well-known professor who insisted that the design Armando was proposing wouldn’t work because it contradicted what the professor wrote in his authoritative textbook. As Armando’s goal was to use the professor’s knowledge to build a functional design – as opposed to simply proving him wrong – Armando reviewed the professor’s theories and found that the problem wasn’t that his design contradicted the professor’s theories. As it turned out, it was how the professor chose to interpret his own theory in that application that was wrong. By framing his design in terms of how it validated the professor’s theories, Armando was able to respect the reasons why the professor was involved in the project – namely to prove his theories had practical applications – while still being able to accomplish what his organization hired him to do.

As the book progresses, Bishop examines a number of common obstacles found in today’s workplace and how maintaining both a focus on what’s within our means/ability to control along with the understanding that “people do things for their reasons, not your reasons” can help readers develop strategies to overcome them.

He also provides a number of questions at the end of each chapter to help readers apply the ideas and strategies he presents in his book (one of my personal favourites is “What could you do that would make a difference in your job that requires no one’s permission other than your own?”). Of course, how effective these questions are as a tool to develop a better understanding of your current conditions and how you can improve it is subjective, given how it requires the reader to take the time to ponder them and assess how they can apply them in their own work settings.

In the end, “Workarounds That Work” is not just a recipe book of strategies that readers can use to address a number of common obstacles/challenges found in today’s workplace. Rather, it’s more about making a shift in our perception and understanding about workplace interactions and dynamics, enabling us to take charge, and subsequently responsibility, of what we can contribute to our organization’s shared goals.

You can buy “Workarounds That Work” on Amazon.com or Amazon.ca for Canadian readers.

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