What To Do If...?

What To Do If...?  How to handle any situation at work and come out winning, by Anne-Maartje Oud, KoganPage 2026

When your intelligent discussion devolves into a battle of egos, or the constant interruptions make it hard for important messages to come through, or when you arrive at work, anxious, unclear, not knowing how to get through today's staff meeting, it might be time for some expert outside-influencer advice.  What Anne-Maartje Oud offers is a systematic approach to picking the right working strategy for your next encounter... for if there is one, there will be more, and even high ranking execs need to be prepared!  In fact, the author makes it easy to identify your particular problem topic, hit that specific chapter, do a quick read, and develop a plan for the next time.

With What To Do If...?  organized into thirty-five quick-read chapters, the reader will also find good corporate examples, like Siemens, that illustrate.  Chapter 12 , "What to do if I am looking for the most significant nonverbal cues" offers a great observational approach to seeing and recognizing tell-tale physical indicators of human reactions.  "There are over 4,000 nonverbal cues registered; if you want to study them all you must work hard.  But what if you want to focus on the main cues that could benefit you in your work situation?" asks the author.  Her answer is to begin with seven key cues, starting with identifying discomfort during nonverbal communication:

    1.  Strategy 1:  Furrowed glabella (area between eyes, above nose) - one of the most straightforward signals indicating that something is bothering a participant..

    2.  Strategy 2:  Hands-on-hands touching - handwringing, stroking the hands, touching fingers and intertwining, gestures that indicate a participant is trying to comfort or soothe himself.

    3.  Strategy 3:  Touching of face and neck - the more pressure observed, the more stress is felt, indicating unease or discomfort

    4.  Strategy 4:  Pacifying behaviour with objects - think pens, mugs, cigars, fidgeting with papers, all intended for relief or comfort during difficult moments.

    5.  Strategy 5:  Ventral denial - When someone turns away, they may be showing loss of engagement in the discussion.  Or they maybe trying to create emotional distance when feeling threatened, or a desire to avoid a particular topic. Turning away can also indicate an attempt to establish personal space or boundaries.

    6.  Strategy 6:  Lips disappearing or lip biting - "Our lips, filled with nerve endings, are very sensitive to what's happening around us, and when we're under stress, like hearing bad news, our lips .. respond by becoming thinner or pressing tightly together."  

    7.  Strategy 7:  Cathartic exhale - The author adds that during a cathartic exhale one might also observe when a person is relieved or stressed by raised eyebrows and wider eyes!

One particular section, "Chapter 14, What to do if I want to become better at online meetings,"  offers very new and timely recommendations for working remote.  When Covid hit we discovered the only way to safely stay in touch with friends and co-workers, but connecting via the internet was often clunky and unpredictable.  Systems issues aside, participants can try other author-endorsed approaches to getting heard and remembered.  One powerful recommendation is to start beforehand by hitting your topic by email, for example, to the chairperson.  Or a carefully worded note to other participants in advance can help.  Aside from being sure the equipment tests out well ahead of the meeting, Oud says we must pay attention to our posture and apparel, as well as well-modulated voices.  

Oud reminds us to think about our background on camera.  At the beginning of Covid it was fun to run zoom calls that looked like we were beaching it in Hawaii, but that practice with everyone stuck housebound and locked down got old fast!  Now, recommends the author, remember that your background - whether its a neatly organized wall library, or a window view to tall trees -  supports whatever image we are trying to project, and visual memories linger long after the zoom meeting.

If you find yourself working with an emotionally unstable colleague, or if the environment feels unsafe, take a look at Chapter 34 because we are not always trained to recognize behavior or consequences. Everyday predictability helps, even when we are preparing for the unpredictable.  The author outlines seven strategies, all of which require advance thinking, but she also recommends that we document incidents, keeping even a personal email record of strange happenings.  Note date and occasion as well as follow-up actions and witnesses.  Scary but so important to maintain an accurate log book.  

What to do if...? is an easy, readable approach to sometimes unidentifiable human communication and behavior problems.  We aren't all robots - yet - and especially for geeks and engineering types who are increasingly managing manufacturing challenges, this book is a human-inspired guide.  

Patricia E. Moody

FORTUNE magazine  "Pioneering Woman in Mfg" 

IndustryWeek IdeaXchange Xpert

A Mill Girl at Blue Heron Journal, on-line resource for business thought-leaders and decision-makers,  patriciaemoody@gmail.com