Shrink that Preventable POW

Happy 2013! We’re going to begin this year with a few suggestions for shrinking Preventable POWs.

A POW is something internal or external that feels like a heavy blow. External POWs are the result of uncontrollable situations or other people’s actions. They happen to you instead of within you. Examples include a traffic jam that makes you late for work, a copier that breaks down minutes before you need the copies, or a cranky customer or coworker who challenges you or is annoying.

Conversely, internal POWs are self-inflicted, created by you. They often start with the mean voice in your head that says “What if…?” or “Are you sure…?”. They originate in the part of your mind that worries about things before they even happen or doubts yourself. These are internal POWs.

One type of POW that I frequently encounter at work is the Preventable POW. As the name implies, this is something that happens that can be fixed or avoided. Procrastination is a perfect example. Putting something off until the last minute, and all the stress associated with doing that is preventable. YOU can do something about it. Procrastination is a Preventable POW in every respect.

A common external Preventable POW is interdepartment conflict. It’s sad that when I worked as a nurse on a Post-partum unit, we used to get frustrated with the Labor & Delivery nurses when they would call in report at shift change or send us a couple of admissions at once. We were only seeing things through our eyes and never stopped to think about what was going on in their department. With some interdepartment communication and team building we could have shrunk that POW once and for all. Unfortunately, I hear the same complaints today from sales/service teams; manufacturing/sales teams and the list goes on.

The shortcut to shrink a Preventable POW is to 1) recognize it as something that is preventable; 2) determine the root causes, and 3) make an effort to fix the underlying problem. The process doesn’t have to be long and protracted, think shortcut, not “long way”.

POWs stink! They are like negative ripples in a pond – their impact extends beyond you to affect coworkers, customers, teams, and even entire organizations. As you embark into 2013, the goal is to shrink the POWs before they become too big and really ruin your day (or week or month).

Remember as Ben Franklin said…”an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.