Where’s the broom

Elise, my hair stylist, is well known for her skill with vivid colors. There are a ton of people who want to learn from her, and she usually has a different assistant every time I go in. Since I am in that chair for a good 4–6 hours, we end up talking about all sorts of things when I am there.

One of those topics I brought up was her new assistant, let’s call them T. I could tell Elise really liked them, and I wanted to hear more. Elise told me she instantly knew T was going to be a good fit, and this story is why.

T walked in on her first day just as Elise was finishing up a haircut. T set their bag down, looked at the hair on the floor and simply asked, “Where’s the broom?”

That question right there is what my work ethic is all about. I want to be like T. I want to be the person who asks where the broom is kept. So much to unpack there, let’s start.

IDENTIFYING THE PROBLEM

In UX, as in many other professions, identifying the problem is the first step. The only way to you can do that is by understanding the landscape. You look at the big picture to spot the gap or what doesn’t belong. That’s exactly what T was able to do.

Are you in a position where you understand your line of profession deeply enough to see the gaps? If not, how could you get there?

OPERATING WITH HUMILITY

It’s so easy to get caught in the trap of what is and isn’t one’s job. T was here to learn about the ins and outs of bleaching and coloring hair, yet they didn’t let that stop them from doing what was needed to solve the problem they identified. In doing so they took shared ownership of the space, and the shared responsibility to keep it in an ideal condition.

For me this has translated into small actions like wiping the sink after I am done washing my hands at work, to fixing a typo in a doc at work quietly if I see one. What does this look like for you?

BIAS TOWARDS ACTION

How many of us see a problem and then fall right into victim mode? I know I have slipped into that pattern in the past. It is so easy to think of problems happening to us, putting us in the position of defense (or rather, no defense). Many of our woes can be solved if we start seeing the opportunity in those problems, taking ownership, stepping into action.

This shift is the hardest. It is also a muscle that takes practice, specially if your default is slipping into complaining or passive mode. But keep doing it over and over, and it becomes habit.

Where are you currently operating on this scale?

ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTION

T identified the problem, had the humility to want to deal with it, and decided to act on it. There was only one piece missing, one key part of the puzzle. T solved that by asking the right question.

Beware the apparent ease here! It is often not that easy to ask the exact question. How many times have you been at the receiving end of a question, trying to decipher what exact piece of info the asker is looking for?

How can we all ask better questions, the right question?

As you can tell, this story affected me deeply. I want to be the kind of person who asks where the broom is, and I want to work with people who do the same.