Unintentional Friction
Last week I was reminded how easy it can be to unintentionally add friction to someone else’s problem.
Someone needed some information, and while I couldn’t really solve the problem for them, I did have something that I thought might help. So I made a little extra effort to get it to them.
They were so grateful. Like, incredibly grateful. More grateful, I felt, than my action had warranted.
It got me thinking about whether sometimes what matters isn’t just the help itself, but knowing that someone heard you and is trying to help.
That made me think about how that might show up with my clients. Sometimes someone sends me a question or tells me something isn’t working and I can take care of it right away. Other times, I need to investigate, or think about it, or I just don’t have time to deal with it right then.
But if I don’t respond until I have the answer, maybe I’ve left them wondering: Did she see it? Did it get lost? Do I need to follow up? When should I follow up?
And now, on top of whatever problem they originally had, I’ve added another little layer of friction.
So I’m trying to be better about responding even when I can’t solve the problem immediately. Sometimes all I can say is, “I got it. I can’t get to this right now, but it’s on my list.”
It doesn’t solve their original problem. But at least I’m not creating yet another one for them while they wait.