Some years back I was on a project at work which required high level of professionalism and it was time-bound. The entire team was as anxious, the pressure on them was immense and tempers start running high. This specific project was very important for the company and thus, the failure was out of the question. Days passed by and all of us felt the pressure mounting, and there was no doubt that something had to give as quite clearly, everyone was unable to deal with the pressure and the load.
There was a morning when I myself was opening my emails and I read some message in which a colleague literally showed me anger and accused me of something. They got rather upset over the perceived delay on my part of the project and made sure to express same to me in detail. It consisted of the blame and criticism, and I wanted to respond with equal measures of anger and hostility. I felt really irritated and offended, not being able to cope with all duties, as I used to do before.
However, instead of expressing my opts at the spot, I chose to think the situation over. It dawned on me that my colleague might also be pressured just like I was and this was well portrayed by the rude tone he/she used. I realised that any attempt to further engage in such a negative of discourse would only worsen the situation for both of us and the project.
Therefore, there was only one thing I could do and that was to attempt to understand the girl’s behavior and intentions. I said something like, ‘Hey guys, I totally understand where you are coming from, let me explain myself better’. I use a proposal in which I wanted to meet at least a time and find out how could we partner better on the issues we face. My goal was to bring out a more positive tone to this meeting because I knew that no kind of conflict resolves without communicating.
We then gathered early in the next day in a conference room. My colleague looked a bit shocked that I could take it so nicely and after a few moments of silence, they had to say sorry for the rudeness of the email. Speaking to them about the compression of time within which they have been allocated to complete the project, they said they were pressured and concerned about the success of the project. I listened carefully to them and admitted that I’d heard all their statements. I also seized the chance to tell him some of the problems that I had in my part of the project.
Speaking to her further it emerged that she too was under very much stress and that our stress was making us be very irrational. Precisely because we did not overemphasize the problem, we could speak calmly and to the point. I introduced means of how we can help each other more and what I found was the present coordination between the groups needed improvement. We even developed some new ideas as to how to improve our working procedures and ease both our working conditions.
At the end of the meeting, the animosity between me and the other person melted, and we went out of the room ready to work as a team towards the project. Where otherwise there might have been issues arising to the level of conflict, the situation was appropriately managed to enhance the working partnership and further the development of the project as a whole.
I learnt the virtue of handling a crisis with compassion and a right attitude. Indeed it solidified the notion, we are not given a situation to determine our response but the situation comes with the test as to how we may wish to act over it. Thus, the time spent on such activity and paying attention to the colleague’s opinion can make an unfavorably situation or a conflict turn into something positive.
One cannot always achieve the most optimum of solutions in such circumstances; however, this case let me realize that, even in the worst of circumstances – stress, loss of profits – more beneficial solutions can be reached if one chooses to be calm instead of angry. This is a practice that to this date I have held close to my heart, and which I endeavor to live by, day in day out, within and outside work.