Meet Jeff – my niece’s cat.
She homed him from Battersea Cats & Dogs Home. He’d had a naff start to life.
Like most pets, Jeff is my niece and her husband’s ‘baby’. Both utterly smitten with him and have been for over 4 years.
Earlier this year devastation hit – Jeff started changing before their eyes.
Covid was diagnosed by the vet. However, clearly learned behaviour and not genetics, Jeff doesn’t follow the crowd (nor does my niece!). He developed a particularly nasty strain which impacted his organs.
Lots of medications, night watches – taken in turns by my niece and her husband – and constant worry followed.
There was a moment when it was thought kinder to put Jeff down. Not by my niece!
She still saw ‘her’ Jeff inside the poor creature now before her.
“There has got to be another option.” Now my niece has the biggest ‘puppy dog eyes’ – no vet would say no.
A final treatment was tried. Now, months later you can see Jeff is almost back to health, and the bags under my niece and her husband’s eyes are fading too!
How often in business and life do we give up because it’s just easier to do something else?
The right decisions are not always the easiest.
Before you make a snap decisions – have you thought of all the possibilities – especially the unique ones?
I see many times in my work with different organisations, people making assumptions leading to poor judgements leading to a heap of potential pain for everyone.
Example: a team member believes they could be neurodivergent. Their manager agrees some easy adjustments but the individual doesn’t use them. The manager assumes they are happy, but the issues and pressures for the individual keep mounting.
It’s uncomfortable to check in with the individual to find out why they aren’t using the agreed tools and steps.
Do they feel they stand out if they use them?
Do they feel their colleagues will judge them?
You’ll never know if you don’t step into that conversation.
Ignoring it, can lead to that person going on sick leave or burning out – either way it’s costing you money and loss of talent.
It could lead to an Employment Tribunal – costing you even more – compensation, legal fees, pressure of the process, reputation
Think differently. Ask curious questions. Don’t assume.
What situation have you been in which required you to think differently to get a great result?