The Power of Confusion

How do you react when you feel confused--when those butterflies in your stomach signal something is off, but you're not clear exactly what or why? Do you view it as a problem or personal failure? Do you look for someone else to blame? Do you retreat to your desk, put your head down, and wait for the storm to pass? Chances are at some point you've reacted in all these ways, but none of them resolved the problem. The truth is that confusion is your opportunity-to learn from experience, improve communication, processes, and innovative problem-solving. And when you tweak your mindset to view it that way, you begin the creative process of finding your own and your organization's competitive edge. Power of Confusion shows you how. Based on the wisdom gained from more than forty years of management consulting to companies large and small, Power of Confusion offers essential insights on how to resolve crippling workplace confusion. Through vivid, real-life examples drawn from industries from banking to hotel management, Martin Stankard identifies the seven most damaging problems cause by career and workplace confusion and examines the best (and worst) practices for resolving them. With humor and empathy, Stankard illustrates classic management errors and describes simple but powerful fixes. In addition, the book's appendices provide rich details on how and when to deploy analytical tools, from skills assessment, questioning, root-cause and inter-relationship analysis, to navigating your career and forming effective process improvement teams. Here are some insights you will gain into solving confusing business problems: How do you find work you love -- rather than just work you are good at? What seven roles-including "plate breaker" help teams succeed? Why is magic not a management method? Why is committing random acts of improvement here and there a dead end while creating a management system for sustaining improvement yields high performance? In a business world where change is the only constant, Power of Confusion is your playbook for deploying proven strategies and tools to transform each instance of workplace dysfunction into your opportunity for learning and growth.