Tips for discussing frustrations as a team

Here is a suggested process for working through frustrations as a team:

Frustrations

  1. Listen with an open heart
  2. Identify any positives you can build from (e.g., people’s concern, effort and ultimate goal that leads to the frustration)
  3. Suggest ideas for things that can be changed to minimize the source of the frustration
  4. Check ideas against your capacities and abilities to change the situation
  5. Make a realistic plan

It’s always good to adapt a process to suit your needs and working style! Try to keep the step which identifies the positives. Remember that our brains want to remove frustrations as quickly as possible, even when the action we favour for a quick fix isn’t always the most constructive. By pausing to note the things we are grateful for about a frustrating situation, we raise levels of positivity (even in the face of adversity!) which helps us creatively explore all the possible actions to take. It sounds counter-intuitive to fix a problem by building from what’s working, but it does help.