Are You, or Someone You Know, Being a Crab at Work?

We are human.  We are emotionally driven creatures.  It's who we are.  We should embrace our humanness, but we should also try to be aware when our natural tendencies result in destructive negativity.  When we discover these tendencies, we owe to to ourselves and to others to make an effort to improve our relationships.

We have the tendency to value our contributions and accomplishments more than we value the contributions and accomplishments of others.  I know I've done it, and I feel the hurt when it is done to me.  That means I've hurt others when I have done it to them.

A great illustration of this natural, normal human tendency is the observation of crabs in a bucket.  If you put a crab in a bucket, and it can get out, then it will get out.  If you fill the bucket with crabs, however, they will pull each other down so none escape.  this ensures their collective demise.

We fool ourselves into thinking we are giving constructive criticism when we pull others down around us.  It's easy to disguise negativity as trying to help others improve.  Here are some example statements:

Example 1:   "You should not be trying to solve problem X,  because your solution does nothing to address problem Y."

The conclusion that X should not be addressed because Y exists does not follow.  Now, if we knew that solving Y had more value, we should solve Y first.  But that still doesn't mean that solving X has no value.  It also does not mean that we should not have tried to solve problem X before we knew about problem Y.

 Example 2:  "Yes, you were successful in helping members of team P by doing A, but they have problems B, C and D that A does not address.  You work for team Q and should not be helping team P.  Team P needs to solve other problems that you cannot address."

The conclusion that we should not help others because we can't solve all of their problems is a non sequitur.  We should think of the greater organization when it is appropriate to do so.  If helping others is low effort and high reward, then that is the thing we should do.  If others in the organization are resisting their own crab-like tendencies, they will show appreciation and recognize your value.

My challenge to you, fellow human, is to observe how you observe the accomplishments of others.  I'll say it again -- observe how you observe.  Do you have a heart of gratitude for the good work they produced, or does your mind immediately go to the bottom of the crab bucket? As a human, my mind goes to the bottom of the crab bucket.  If I'm not recognized for my accomplishments, I don't want to acknowledge the accomplishments of others.  I try to be intentional about appreciating others, but it is not natural.  It takes effort to encourage others to give their best.

Here is a video of how I envision our organization of crabs working together: