The human variable
Some people are overly irritated at delays or errors caused by others. Many people pride themselves on being ”practical”, “systematic” or ”efficient.” They see situations like this - “We want to do this, this and this, and so-and-so was late and now we are innefficient.” The person may then become angry with the human factor and fume, complain, and criticize. These people claim they are just being logical- but is it logical to ignore all the pieces of the puzzle and still expect a perfect picture to result?
I am speaking about people who have a disproportionate response- the one’s that can tolerate machine failure, weather delays, tsunami’s, etc. but don’t have any empathy for the individual who didn’t live up to their mechanical standards.
Back to their so-called logic. The flaw in their reasoning is this: they forget the human variable in their calculations. Suppose the solution to a problem is the following formula:
A+B+C = The Solution.
A is the product or service.
B is the process.
C is the person(s) involved.
We’ll give each a value of 1.
So, the distortion happens when people see the formula as “A+B” and forget “C”. In other words, 1+1 = Solution. Well, had they used the complete formula it would be 1+1+1= 3. “3″ is the number needed. “2″ is the number they calculated would work BUT IT DIDN’T. They forgot the human variable “C”.
What happens when we don’t factor in the human variable? We get frustrated with “C”. We may only see the tangible mistakes. We may forget that if we criticize someone, they are less effective on the job. Instead of a value of “1″, our person may now be only a value of “.5″ and we will fall short of the needed result. We lower our own value when we become innapropriately frustrated with others. We need to keep our morale up, others morale up, and preserve the relationship even if it means overlooking human error when appropriate.
The point is this: when someone takes a step backward, don’t overreact and turn it into TWO steps backward. After all, that’s only logical.