I’ll Just Fix It Myself

She showed up one day and the job was gone.

Not because she wasn’t good at it. But because nobody had ever been willing to have the real conversation.

Her leaders had concerns. They had wants. But saying them out loud felt unkind. So they worked around her. Made decisions without her. Kept showing up to meetings like everything was fine.

She had wants too. But asking felt selfish. So she stayed quiet. Made herself easy. Took up as little space as possible.

Her inner voice said what it always said.

I don’t want to be a burden.

Until one day there was nothing left to avoid.

Across town a leader was watching his team ignore his procedures.

So he wrote more procedures.

By himself. No input. No conversation. Just new rules landing in inboxes.

His inner voice was just as certain.

I’ll just fix it myself.

His team wasn’t resistant because they didn’t care. They were resistant because they had never been asked. Their wants were invisible. And his wants were landing as mandates instead of invitations.

So he kept writing. They kept resisting.

Two people. Opposite problems. Same result.

Nobody’s wants were on the table.

Most people don’t know they have wants. They have been swallowing them for so long they stopped feeling them. Or they have been pushing so hard they stopped hearing anyone else’s.

The first step is not changing. It is just knowing where you are.

Because once you can see it, you know which way to move.

And all in partnership is always available from wherever you are standing.

In your corner,

Allison