SHIFT in Practice: Human

When a problem arises at work, it is tempting to move straight to the plan. But before deciding what to do next, we need to understand what is really going on for the person involved.

In this episode, Nicola explores the H in the SHIFT Practice: Human. She looks at what can be missed when we focus only on the practical problem, why the working environment matters, and how understanding the person can lead to more realistic actions.

Find out more about the SHIFT Practice and Nicola’s coaching at nmcandc.com.

Hosted by Nicola Martin FBCS, Career and Leadership Coach for people in technology. Visit nmcandc.com to learn more about coaching, speaking and The Leadership Shift newsletter.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Hello, I'm Nicola Martin. I'm a career and leadership coach for people in technology and the founder of Nicola Martin Coaching and Consultancy. This is the Leadership Shift, where I explore how we can use the Shift practice to think more clearly about the situations we face at work. Last time I introduced Shift and talked about the first stage, Situation. Situation is about understanding what is actually happening before we rush towards a solution. It helps us separate what we know from what we are assuming and gives us a clearer starting point. This time we are moving on to the H in Shift, human. The problem

The Problem Beneath The Problem

SPEAKER_00 1:04

beneath the problem. You might come to a coaching session with what appears to be a clear factual problem. A project is behind schedule, a deadline has been missed, you did not get the promotion you expected, or a conversation with your manager went badly. We could spend the whole session looking at logistics, most workplaces would. We could talk about the project plan, the available resources, the delivery date, or the next conversation you need to have. We could agree and produce a sensible list of actions and agree what you will do first. Those things may all be useful, but they are not necessarily the whole story. The missed deadline might be connected to a confidence problem that began after a bruising performance review 18 months ago. The stalled promotion might be tied to a quiet fear that you will be seen as difficult if you ask what's really going on. You might be avoiding a task because you do not fully understand what is expected of you, but you are worried that asking for clarification will expose something you think you should already know. Or you might be struggling to contribute in meetings, not because you have nothing to say, but because the way these meetings are run makes it difficult for you to find space to speak. This can be especially difficult for people who identify, like me, as neurodivergent. Fast-moving discussions, frequent interruptions, unclear agendas, or being expected to respond immediately can make it harder to process information and contribute. The problem is not a lack of ideas or ability, the meeting simply may not have been designed to allow different ways of thinking and communicating. No status update or rag report is likely to surface any of that, and you might not have said it out loud yet either.

Pausing Before The Plan

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This is why, in a shift conversation, once we understand the situation, we pause on what is actually going on for you before we do anything practical. I might ask, what are you actually feeling about this? What part of this situation is taking up the most space for you? What do you need that you are not currently getting? What are you worried might happen? Sometimes people would really rather I did not ask those questions. They want to get to the plan. There is a real deadline looming. There is a decision to make or a conversation that cannot be avoided much longer. Stopping to talk about feelings can seem like a distraction from the serious work of resolving the problem. That response is understandable. Many of us have spent years learning to separate how we feel from what we do at work. We are expected to remain professional, keep moving, and focus on delivery. We learn to present a calm, factual version of events, even when the experience itself has been anything but calm.

More Than 1.7 Million Individuals

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More than 1.7 million individuals. In technology, we are particularly comfortable talking about systems, processes, and evidence. Those things matter. But people are not systems, and our responses are not always produced by logic alone. More than 1.7 million people are employed in the UK technology sector. That's more than 1.7 million people bringing different experiences, responsibilities, strengths and needs into their working lives. Yet we still build working practices around a surprisingly narrow idea of what a good technology professional looks like. Somebody who can think quickly, speak confidently, cope with constant change, and keep delivering regardless of what else may be happening. People who do not fit that expectation can easily conclude that they are the problem. The human stage asks us to pause before reaching that conclusion. Making the action realistic.

Making The Action Realistic

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Has that person reacted badly to questions before? Are you concerned about being seen as uncooperative? Would it help to have the conversation privately rather than in a group? Do you need time to prepare what you want to say? The practical action may still be to challenge the deadline, but now we can think about how you can do that in a way that takes account of you and the environment you are working in. That is what human means within Shift.

Not Every Problem Is A Personal Failing

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Not every problem is a personal failing. The human stage helps us to avoid turning every workplace problem into a personal failing. Sometimes the issue is not that you need to become more resilient, more confident, or better organized. Sometimes the workload is unreasonable. The expectations are unclear, you have not been given the information you need, the promotion process lacks transparency, or the working environment does not support the way you work best. Perhaps you are tired because you have been compensating for a poor system for far too long. That doesn't mean that there is nothing you can do. Coaching still needs to help you decide how you want to respond. But there is a significant difference between deciding how to respond to a difficult environment and assuming that you are the difficulty. Try the human stage for yourself. If you want to use the human stage for yourself, begin with the situation you identified last time. Then pause before creating the plan. Ask yourself, what am I feeling about this situation? What part of it feels most difficult? What do I need that I'm not getting at the moment? What matters to me here? Am I treating an environmental problem as though it's a personal failure? You do not need to answer every question. Notice which ones make you want to move on quickly. They may be the questions worth spending a little more time with. You are not trying to talk yourself out of taking action. You are making sure that the action you choose is grounded in the reality of your experience rather than in what you think you should be able to do. The human stage is not separate from the work. It affects the conversation you are avoiding, the decision you are delaying, and the boundary you have not yet set. Once we understand that, we can begin to look at the patterns, assumptions, and evidence within the situation. That takes us to the next stage of shift, insight, and that's what we'll explore next time.

Closing

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I'm Nicola Martin, a career and leadership coach for people in technology. If something in this episode is connected with an experience you are having at work, you can find out more about my coaching and the shift practice at nmcnc.com. Thank you for listening.