Recently I was driving to California from my hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s an annual trek for Phoenicians. It’s one way we escape the scorching summer heat of the Sonoran Desert. Somewhere along the way as I was cruising in the fast lane, a driver stuck behind a slow semi-truck in the right-hand lane, blindly cut in front of me without signaling. In doing so they kicked up a rock that struck my windshield and immediately left a large crack with tentacles sprawling in several directions.
After processing my initial annoyance, I thought about the metaphor of the moment. Many people go about their business, largely unaware of their surroundings. Not necessarily selfish or malicious. Not ill-intended. Likely even well-intended. Distracted, and oblivious, nonetheless. When people operate distracted and unaware of their surroundings at work, they sometimes make metaphorical lane changes that cut people off and kick up debris.
I often reflect on what makes people good corporate citizens. The hallmarks of grace-based colleagues. One of the more obscure traits I have long believed makes people easier to work with is holistic thinking.
In her 2014 HBR article entitled, “Are you a Holistic or a Specific Thinker,” Erin Meyer succinctly describes holistic thinking by contrasting it to specific thinking.1 Holistic thinking is thinking that recognizes and appreciates interdependencies and interconnectedness. It zooms the lens out to see situations in their broader context. Specific thinking, on the other hand, zooms in to look closely at situations. To explore them individually. It assumes you can extract a situation from its broader environment to understand it better on its own, independent of its surroundings. While holistic and specific thinking both have their advantages, you might see how specific thinkers could be like distracted drivers in the workplace roadway—having tunnel vision on their own work, not fully aware of their work’s impact on the broader organization.
If you are a specific thinker, you might wonder how to think and act more holistically. It’s likely not natural for you to think holistically. Keeping with the driving analogy, I’d encourage you to think about holistic thinking as akin to checking the mirrors of your car prior to a lane change. Like you learned in driver’s education. Check your rear-view mirror and side mirrors before changing lanes. Checking in all directions helps ensure you don’t unwittingly cut someone off or miss something lurking in your blind spot. Here are four questions to guide you as you change lanes:
Who in my workplace is impacted by what I’m doing? Little we do functions in a vacuum. Pause for a brief moment and determine the constituents who have a vested interest in your work.
Who around me needs to have input into my work? Once you know your impacted constituents, determine if you should seek input from any of them prior to finishing your analysis, developing your solution, or releasing it into your workplace.
What people or departments should I inform about my work? Although some constituents may not need to provide input, there are likely people you should inform of your effort prior to, or concurrent to, releasing it. Someone wise once impressed upon me that, “Sequence matters.” Be sure you are communicating vital information at the right time, to the right people, so others around you can respond appropriately.
What blind spots do I have that I need to consider? We all have blind spots. These may be undeveloped skills, deficiencies in our thinking, or simply areas that lie outside of our conscious awareness. Find someone you trust that knows your strengths and weaknesses and can advise you of potential blind spots early on, prior to your work negatively impacting others.
Our workplaces are complex and interconnected freeways of information, activities, processes, and people. In a world of globalization, digital expansion, and artificial intelligence, the pace is only accelerating. I learned as an executive in the traffic safety industry that distracted driving leads to accidents. Add speed to distraction, and you end up with fatalities. The dynamics of speed and distraction also lead to workplace pileups.
Be a gracious road user in your workplace. Look around. Be thoughtful and considerate of others on your workplace roadway. People often don’t notice good drivers … but they sure notice the distracted ones. Don’t be a distracted driver at work.
Has your distracted driving on the job ever caused a fender bender in your workplace? What happened and how did you clean up the wreckage? Let me know in the comments.
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