Ralf Weiser's Blog – Shake Up Your Snow Globe! ©

Stop blaming others: They is us – we is they

Stop blaming others: They is us – we is they 

It is so easy to shift blame to others. Let it be conversations at home, with neighbors, and of course at work. “They” comes up a lot, just pay attention to it during your upcoming conversations. Management did this, so-and-so did that, department x did not include this, those guys at the office goofed up, sales never cares, and on and on goes the list of what THEY did or did not do.

Although the complaint voiced to others may make you feel better, at least initially. Have you ever wondered if this changed anything for the better? How would THEY know that there is something amiss? That is my call to action for you. Pull yourself together and put your energy into approaching the entity with which you have an issue. Encourage a discussion in which you make sure to use all the courage that you can muster to provide candid feedback. Acknowledge your contribution to the issue (if any) and make sure to portray the actual root cause of the issue. Mention that you want to improve the situation and if need be meet again to collaborate some more.

Please think twice about using the ambiguous THEY word in your conversations with others. You are amongst the THEY people you are pointing out – you may just not want to admit that.

Ralf