We've Got This!

In the follow-up to his award-winning Amazon International bestseller My Emily, Matt Patterson approaches the topic of when a personal crisis collides with your professional life. * * * We expect people to come to work and be "normal." Well, what if their circumstances aren't "normal"? Bottom line - it affects performance. Oh, and it also affects the bottom line as well. Great organizations conquer such challenges. They carefully manage change and they win - as a team. They treat their team members like people - not positions. How does Matt know this? He's seen it. He's experienced it. More than 30 years ago, his life was turned upside down. He and his wife were blind-sided with the news their first daughter would be born with the genetic chromosomal disorder, Down syndrome. Just two years later came the diagnosis of leukemia. No one knows when his or her "tomorrow" will come. It doesn't go by a calendar. It just comes. Fast forward two years - "tomorrow" brought a diagnosis of leukemia for his daughter. Chemotherapy. Remission. Relapse. Death. Six months of "tomorrows" later, he felt his daughter's last breath on his neck and suddenly he is planning her funeral. This happens. Everywhere. Every. Single. Day. Many experience this "Great Collide" when personal crisis affects professional lives. And for those who have dodged this bullet, you may be reading this with someone on your team who is knee-deep in this battle. How do we help? It's not easy. What to say? What to do? When to say it or when to keep our lips zipped? When to step forward to offer assistance - whether it's to step forward to assist with a project that has a deadline looming or lend a shoulder to someone who is at their breaking point? This can go both ways. When crisis enters our lives, how much do we say? Who do we say it to? When to say it? When not to say it? Do we say it at all? This is where we begin to examine and learn how we, as organizations, leaders, teams and colleagues can come together and treat those who are fighting this fight. Like people. Not positions.