When I was about 10, I decided to cook myself a poached egg for breakfast before I got on my bike and headed for school. The only problem was – I had never cooked a poached egg.
Mum had always made them for me.
She was outside watering the garden, so I went out and asked her how to do it.
Her instructions were:
- Half fill the pan with water and put it on the stove.
- When the water has boiled, carefully drop the egg in.
- When it turns pink, you know it’s done.
Great!
That sounded easy.
So, I filled the pan half full, watched it till it boiled (and learned that that old adage of a watched pot never boils was excruciatingly accurate). Once the bubbles started, I very carefully (with my tongue out at just the right angle) dropped the egg in.
Then I waited for it to turn pink.
And I waited.
And I waited.
And I waited.
About 15 minutes later … it still looked like an egg.
Just not a pink one.
So, I hotfooted it outside again to ask mum how long this colour change normally takes as it had been 15 minutes now and it wasn’t pink.
She came inside, got a bit cross with me for wasting an egg and told me that it would have turned pink ages ago. I ended up with a bowl of Weet-bix instead.
But I didn’t know what I had done wrong. I followed all the instructions. How did I end up in trouble when I was paying such close attention?
Did mum give me the wrong instructions?
No.
Did I follow them wrong?
No.
What happened was that her version of ‘pink’ and mine were different.
So, how often does this happen in your workplace?
Have you ever given someone an instruction and ended up with a result that didn’t meet your expectations?
Have you ever experienced friction or disconnection with a staff member but can’t quite put your finger on why?
Have you ever worked really hard on a project, only to be met, not with applause, but with a list of changes that need to be made?
The Poached Egg Effect is happening in our workplaces daily.
It’s wasting time, it’s costing you money and it’s making your people feel bullied, devalued and confused unnecessarily.
This is why it’s so important to teach your people about communication – or more specifically, how what they SAY may actually be HEARD by others. Not because they’re not listening, not because they’re not paying attention and definitely not because they don’t care.
Simply because they think differently or are of a different generation.
How many assumptions are your people jumping to, just because they interpret the world differently? What would happen if you could get everyone accountable for making their words (written and spoken) have the RIGHT impact?
Morale and productivity would improve, while apathy and infighting will lessen.
You’re staff will stop walking on eggshells and turn into perfect, good eggs.
Just like mum ended up teaching me how to cook the next day (in case you were wondering).
I’m off to teach a proactive, visionary cafe owner’s team how to do this today. How to connect with, and motivate each other without any emotional egg-splosions.
Got eggshells at your place?
