Who's Window Is It?

As you know, I am a frequent traveler.  One of the things that really bugs me is airplane windows.  If you have ever been on a plane, you may have experienced a situation like this one:

You're sitting in your window seat and you decide you want to adjust the window shade.  The problem?  Well, you technically have two windows because the designers of the plane didn't take into account that seats actually need to fit into the plane and they should technically line up with the windows.  Oh no, these puppies are halfway between your seat and the seat in front of you.  You're trying to figure out what to do because the sun is glaring in your face.  Suddenly, you decide to reach forward and pull the shade down from the window in between the seat in front of you, and then.....YOU GET THE LOOK!  You know the look, the one where the guy decides to turn around and do that little stare down cutting deep into your soul.  A minute later, the shade "mysteriously" reopens and you're blinded once again.  Now you could go back and forth with this little game all day, but you usually just choose to keep your mouth shut and throw on your welding mask to protect your eyes from staring directly into the core of the sun.  

It made me think of how business is a lot like this.  Something comes up and you're not quite sure if you're supposed to do it, or the other guy in your office is.  So what do you do?  You usually just sit back and wait - hoping and praying that the other guy is going to take care of it.  Unfortunately, most of the time we end up continuing to "stare into the sun" at the end of the day.  

If we all just took the time to communicate and simply ask the question, "Do you mind if I close this window, I'm getting blinded by the sun?"  Instead, we take the path of least resistance, and what happens?  We get burned!  We need to be open and honest with one another in our offices and don't just expect that everyone else has got the ball and is running with it.  Be clear!  Communicate effectively, and I promise the end result will end up being much, much better! 

Have a great one!