Fall 2002 - Marketing Dimensions from Traymore Marketing

	Fall 2002

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When Colleagues Hit Their Terrible Twos

by Jennie Dawes
On days when I'm feeling a little out of the work-world loop and even nostalgic about my former life as a publications professional, I call a dear friend and former co-worker. Often, what I hear astounds me and restores perspective; life in the working world is not much different from spending the day with two-year-olds.

The upside is, just as in parenting, a little creativity and commitment to the best-possible final product can see you through if we can remember that even the most unbearable toddler is really a creative genius caught between will and imagination.

Like frustrated parents offering the same soggy Cheerios for a fourth time in a different-colored bowl, we often encounter repeated rejection of our good ideas or proposals by colleagues or superiors who ultimately just don't know what they want. Thus, you must sometimes "parent" your projects and the way others are involved with them.

This requires you to create an environment that sets forth your clear expectations of others in working with you, allows some creative thinking and expression in others, and engenders trust in your skills and role as a communications professional. You need to set limits while offering choices, with the emphasis on the opportunities in the latter. Otherwise, when nothing seems to meet others' expectations, you'll be left asking yourself: Do we need a different bowl? Is it the shape of the spoon, too much or too little milk, or the fact that Cheerios are the wrong choice?

Unfortunately, as also happens with two-year-olds, creative leaders often think of just one more idea that wasn't on your list of choices. When, after weeks of work, your boss comes to you with a completely different concept for the company annual report the moment you are stuffing corrected final galleys into an envelope for your printer, the last thing you feel like doing is greeting that person's willful imagination with an open mind. Now, having been at wit's end many times well past deadline, I'm certainly not making excuses for those who sidestep your well-conceived procedures and project timelines. But, I also know that moment is generally not the best time to remind your boss that the annual meeting is four days away, you're under budget by five dollars on the project, and you're headed for a long weekend on the lake.

So, what do you do? Take a deep breath, and then invite that person's imagination in to sit down a while and show you what it has in mind. Then, calmly explain to the messenger the consequences--or at least as many as you are sure of--for changing tracks. Offer the final choice and then move on.

We have to wonder what inspires creativity in others at the moment it is most likely to wreak havoc on our own lives. The people who wrinkle our smooth approach to the finish are a little like toddlers discovering markers for the first time. They color over everything, even themselves, in some attempt at finding their own expressive nature. But rather than get angry over having to clean up the mess, maybe we can avoid it by taking some of the markers out a few at a time, showing how they can be used, and letting the carefully guided play begin.

Jennie Dawes is a free-lance writer and previously was with The Federation for Community Planning prior to becoming the proud parent of two paper-generating children. She can be reached at: JDawes1165@msn.com.

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