Workplace ONE THING

I remember the day the idea of 'do ONE THING deep' crystallised for me. I was walking back to my desk when I came to a sudden standstill in the middle of the office. Not noticing anything or anyone, I was busy contemplating a paradoxical revelation. And aren't they always the best sort to have.

I had just come from a meeting where I was given a new project. It came out of the blue. Not linked to anything we did. Plus, I already had lots of projects on the go and was spinning plates to keep them from smashing to the ground.

Standing there, my mind racing and feeling overwhelmed, I took a deep breath and sighed, "Can't we just do ONE THING?" And then I burst out laughing as I remembered my previous role.

You see, I couldn't get anything done there. In that organisation, there was always something stopping any project or initiative from being implemented. Just lots of planning, meetings, indecision and requests for a new version of what I had just done. Saying, "Can't we just do ONE THING?" had a completely different meaning here.

Consequently, I became sensitive to ONE THINGs, or more usually, ONE THING shaped holes. I started to think about what ONE THING meant in the every-THING and the no-THING workplace.

Is your workplace ONE THING or the other?