Do what needs to be done
(And find your northern star)
When I sat down this week to write, after a turbulent few days at work, the phrase “do what needs to be done” kept circling in my mind.
I am very cautious about this phrase, while at the same time holding it lightly as a guide.
It is often very easy to identify when something needs to be done, but it is much harder to identify if it should be done. More specifically, if what I think needs to be done is right, and if I am the right person to do it.
When I was studying social work, I was living in a remote Aboriginal community. Throughout my studies, advocacy was identified as an important role for social workers. However, every time my studies touched on advocacy, I would notice that I felt unsettled.
I had seen well meaning people arrive in a complex inter-cultural space and start ‘making dust’ - charging ahead on the strength of their vision and certain about what should happen. Their solid values-based intentions lost to other (more personal) imperatives.
Too often, the advocate became part of the problem rather than the solution.
And yet, the opposite risk is also real. Sometimes urgent action is required, but caution can become its own form of harm. Everyone standing back, waiting for someone else to act, or referring the matter on, while the situation remains unresolved.
Sometimes, no matter how hard it is, I have to pay attention to the need for urgent advocacy. Step up into a role that I did not seek. Even if it feels uncomfortable or puts me under an unwelcome spotlight. Even if it risks a relationship that may not recover. Relationships are hard-won and easily lost, especially in professional contexts, so these can one of the hardest risks to weigh.
When I am most conflicted about whether to act in an advocacy role, I take a more structured approach to considering what to do. Something simple, like completing a formal risk assessment or working through a decision-making tool.
I also know that I need to get out of my own head. I need to seek the perspectives of colleagues or mentors. People who can help me see beyond my own frame of reference and suggest alternate courses of action.
But in the end, I still need a northern star. A single light to guide me when everything else is pulling my attention in different directions. For me, that light is this question:
Does this action, from my client’s perspective, truly serve them?
To answer that, I must do my best to understand what ‘service’ means to them, not to me, my organisation or any others affected.
Then I can act, facing in that direction.
May you find your own northern star when the path ahead is unclear.
ps. if you’re interested in decision-making tools, I have recently reviewed a few and this one was helpful: ETHICS-A. If you’re in Australia, you can also take advantage of Ethi-call, a free independent helpline run by the St James Ethics Centre.