Skirmishing.
I’m not sure it’s a legitimate term, but my grammar checker isn’t choking, and it’s a word I’ve used for the past ten years when describing background “noise” of various sorts. Not to mention poking, prodding, and maneuvering to keep me off balance.
Skirmishing is an effective tactic, both smoke screen and weapon, serving to distract and deplete the opponent’s available resources.
Serious stress generator?
You bet.
To me, skirmishing is purposefully kicking up trouble with the intention of creating more, or at the very least, a diversion.
And then there’s obfuscating, Chaos Theory, and Seth Godin’s blog.
Chaos, Anyone?
Obfuscating? It’s obscuring real issues with sketchy information and confusion. Chaos Theory? It’s a fascinating scientific body of knowledge and inquiry, dealing with seemingly random events.
Seth Godin, Idea Guru Extraordinaire?
As usual in his marketing blog, he offers a few choice words with real impact, and caught my attention as he describes organizational chaos that easily applies to our day to day lives.
In a recent post on the No-Problem Problem, he writes:
An organization that’s run on emergencies and reaction to incoming doesn’t know what to do when there are no problems.
He goes on to point out that when an organization is accustomed to operating in this manner, they tend to seek out emergencies which allow them the opportunity to seemingly “get things done.”
(No doubt the individuals in this organization will be popping Tums in the office and grabbing Grey Goose dragging through their doors at night.)
Parenting Panic
Ah… might this be the organizational equivalent of the over-busy mom? The over-committed writer? The couple that doesn’t like each other much, but keeps their dance card so full they have no time to actually confront how they feel – or don’t?
I’ve been contemplating chaos lately. We all live it – at times, especially when we’re overwhelmed by more commitments than we can handle, generally not of our choosing.
You know what I mean.
A big assignment at work hits just as the mother-in-law rolls into town, the washing machine goes on the fritz, and ants invade through the living room window. Naturally, an opportunity you’ve looked forward to is moved up by a week, the twins are sick, the teens are fighting, and now you’re tied to a juggle that would strain the capacities of a seasoned Strategic Planner with a permanent caffeine drip.
Busy? Moi?
When chaos is short-lived, we manage to power our way through and try to return to a routine and priorities that are manageable. The stress is extreme and potentially unhealthy, but we can see an end in sight.
But when chaos becomes the routine? When we use “busyness” to hide other priorities – even from ourselves?
Confusion is the new normal. Priorities are lost. Long term or bigger picture perspectives are sacrificed to the crisis of the moment, because crisis management is the Big Black Hole that gobbles up organized thought as efficiency takes a suicide dive off the cliff.
Off Balance?
Sometimes, this mismanagement maelstrom is unintentional; it is the result of insufficient resources, a confluence of crazy circumstances, and quite possibly, incompetence.
Sometimes, keeping others off balance is a strategy. Skirmishing, obfuscating, and creating chaos are used to effective ends, not only as diversionary tactics, but a means to subvert sources, facts, prevailing certainty.
Ever been on the receiving end of this terrible trio, finally grasping that manipulation is at play, as you wonder what’s next?
Curious about the consequences?
Always on Edge
Non-problems are transformed into problems. Confidence is eroded. Teams struggle, waiting for the next shoe to drop. Uncertainty wreaks havoc with planning. Norms lose reliability. Processes are lost in the, well… process. Even routine communication requires a reality check.
And sometimes, it’s tough finding your way back.
If you are purposely perpetrating crisis after crisis, you may see it as an effective tool to keep others in a weakened adversarial position, always on edge. But if these others are your colleagues on whom you depend, friends whose loyalty matters, or even a relationship partner, you are undermining trust for the long term.
- Are your days filled with skirmishing, obfuscating, or chaos? How do you deal with this in your working life?
- Are you good in a crisis? Are you effective in prolonged chaos?
- Is this increasingly an organizational reality – teams who are short-staffed, overworked, and operating in crisis mode out of habit?
- How do you handle chaotic living when you’re on the receiving end? How do you handle it when it’s become your parenting or partnering style – unintentionally or used for diversion?
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I do tend to need a fire under my butt to get things done — I find I focus better that way. But I think that’s related to being sort of ADD rather than chaos foisted upon me.
A motivating deadline or event is different from non-stop crisis management – in our personal or professional lives. But you raise a great point, Pauline, that as individuals – what may be exhausting (and demotivating) to one might prove exactly the sort of “fire under the butt” that is useful to another.
Organized chaos is the normal state of my desk at work. Come to think of it, it was also normal in a house full of teenagers too. For me, when the chaos begins to get overwhelming, it’s helpful to break everything down into smaller segments and tackle them one at a time; letting go of the things that are not essential until later…or never. When working for the ad agency, someone told me I was cool as the flip side of a pillow in stressful situations. Little did they realize how panicked I sometimes was on the inside!
I’m good in a big, but finite crisis (love what Lisa says about being like the cool side of the pillow). But I struggle when life becomes a series of small crises, one after the other. We just came off a few months of non-stop chaos here and I didn’t realize at the time how I was physically internalizing all the stress – to the point where, as you know, I made myself sick. Now I realize how lucky how I am to have a relatively smooth life. I applaud those who keep their cool – or at least their heads – during much longer periods of crisis.
I probably shouldn’t say this out loud since I suspect Big Brother is always watching, but I’m in a work environment right now that runs on emergencies. The people in charge are constantly reacting instead of acting. The thought, I believe, is that it saves money not to be proactive because most of the time you’ll dodge the bullet. But what this means is that you’re constantly being shot at. It is so stressful. I am stressed. All of my co-workers are stressed. While the motto seems to be, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” I’m a woman on the edge. It sucks to be so financially tied to a situation that is so extremely unhealthy. This is no way to live.
I wish to hell that they’d hire Seth to come in and consult. I’d love to watch him tear the place apart.
And then, hopefully, put it back together again.
Appreciate your sharing, Chloe. Too many organizations are operating this way, it seems to me… Dreadful way to live, for all involved.
-> Pauline
Can I gift you a stool? 🙂
Just joking! It relaxes sometimes in middle of the chaos! :))
Vous me faites rire, François. Vous avez un lien ou une image pour tout, parait-il ! J’espère que tout va bien.
I know folks who run on crises. Godin is right. If there isn’t a crisis they create one.