Motivation - Can't or Won't

MOTIVATION – Can't' or Won't


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – February 2014

Jan Ashford says "There is no such thing as can't, only won't"

Isn't it absolutely amazing how the thing that is absolutely bugging me the most or the thing that I most need to learn about is the thing that I get to write about! It always makes me smile when these opportunities present themselves in this way.

Let me tell you the story . . . .

I am currently doing some work for a client, let's call them ABC Products.  They have several branches throughout the country and even some across borders.

Although the business is a number of years old now and doing very well, there are very few policies, procedures and templates in place - including (but not limited to) the fact that Letters or Contracts of employment have not been issued.

For several months now I have been trying to get information out of the office administration staff in each of the branches and it has been a very long and frustrating process.

The final straw happened today when I received a reply from the Office Administrator.  Now you may be wondering why receiving a reply from the Office Administrator would cause such a furor.  Well you see it's like this, this is the fourth time she has sent me the exact same reply, clearly the problem is that she has not answered the question.  Actually the reality is that she probably did not read the question properly and therefore did not answer it at all.

It was Einstein who said that "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again whilst expecting a different outcome"!

Now clearly the problem was either the Office Administrator "could not" give me the correct answer or she "would not" give me the correct answer! Yet instead of explaining what the problem was to me, so that we could find a workable solution, she merely continued to send me the incorrect information in the hope that I would either accept it or just go away!

Clearly I did neither!  What eventually happened of course, is that she ended up facing disciplinary charges for failing to comply with a reasonable instruction and that of course, makes me the "bad" guy - not that that concerns me in any way, you understand.

The reality is that all this drama could have been easily avoided if only she had had a mind shift change and become a part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem.

I guess it goes to the age old story of how resistant we humans are to change of any sort - whether it will ultimately make our lives easier or not.  The reality of that of course, is that "change" is one if the few things that is absolutely guaranteed and we had best get used to the idea and just deal with it or we will be faced with a life full of angst and challenge.

So the challenge is for us to let go of the angst and embrace the change.  That way at least we have some control over how and when the change takes place.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za