The Holy Crap Moment

Here’s how Urban Dictionary might say it…

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Holy Crap Moment

Bad news revealed in front of a group of oblivious people

“So, we’re watching this VCR tape, where my uncle recorded his ‘last will and testament’ before he died. And he goes, ‘I hate my family, and therefore I’m leaving all of my vast wealth to charity. You all get nothing.’ It was a real holy crap moment.”

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Holy Crap Moment

The instant that a team at once realizes something surprising and dismaying, where most people in the group are inclined to yell, “holy crap!”

“The finance guy came in and told us that our expense numbers were way out-of-whack, and there’s only 1 week left in the quarter. We had a serious holy crap moment after that!”

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How It Goes

We’ve all been there. Everything is going along just fine at work. Energy is good. People are working hard. Now, we’re having a meeting to discuss progress on the decisions made at an offsite meeting several weeks ago.

Then it happens.

Scrum Master: So, looking at the canvas we did at the offsite, I’ve created stories in the backlog for all of the stuff we said we would do on the project. And, voila….

Team Member 1: Looks great!

Product Owner: Wait just a minute here. That’s not right at all!!

Team Member 2: It’s not?!?!

Product Own: No!!!

Everyone: Holy crap!!!!

What Is True

Here are some things that are true. The holy crap moment:

*Reveals something that was true before it happened.

*Ignites a period of chaos and emotion, which needs to pass before anything can rationally be done.

*Brings out the best in some people and the worst in others.

*Represents a collective failure. If everyone is in the same “holy crap” situation, then there is no room to blame an individual.

What You Can Do

If you sense a holy crap moment in your future, find a way to make it happen sooner rather than later.

One critical element of the holy crap moment is that it introduces urgency to a situation where no urgency previously existed. The earlier the problem is revealed, the more time you have to deal with it. There’s an old saw that sums it up, “the best time to realize this would have been 6 weeks ago; the second best time is right now.”

Find the goodness in the holy crap moment.

Once the shock and dismay has subsided, look at the situation as an opportunity to make something right before something truly disastrous happens. It also might be an opening for an individual to embrace the urgency and become a hero or emergent leader.

In your warnings about a holy crap moment, include data, not just your intuition.

If you sense a holy crap moment on the horizon, sharing your intuition is probably not enough to spur the team to proactive action. Find and present facts in a controlled manner and let a kinder, gentler version of the holy crap moment unfold.

Reflect on the holy crap moment

Holy crap moments are usually the product a sub-optimal way of working. Nonetheless, even good teams have them, and everyone can learn from them. After the dust settles, ask yourselves: How did we get here? Why did that moment happen? What do we need to do differently going forward to not have that happen again? What did we learn about how we work together and treat each other in such situations?

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Holy crap moments happen. It’s how your team responds that is most important.