Are foreign weather balloons messing with your airspace?

News Flash: Chinese weather balloon hovering over Montana!

When I heard this news, thoughts rushed in:

• If the Chinese didn’t mean for this weather balloon to be over Montana, if it was pulled off course by unusual weather patterns, why didn’t they contact the US when it crossed into US airspace and alert us? They know it’s theirs. Why weren’t they proactive to prevent a misunderstanding?
• Did the US just discover it when it was over Montana, almost 980 miles of US land mass? Do we not monitor our airspace? Who is responsible for knowing what’s in our airspace and keeping us safe?
• Why doesn’t the US Air Force lasso it (I’m sure there’s a technical term for this), recover it, and examine what’s inside?
• It’s not my responsibility. I have no power to act anyway. Nothing to see here. Move along.

That’s one set of thoughts. Here’s another: Instead of disconnecting and thinking there’s nothing to be gained by continuing to think about this out-of-our-control occurrence, what if we think about it on a scale that does have to do with us. That does empower us as leaders of our own lives and protectorates of our local, immediately accessible airspace?

New News Flash: Foreign weather balloons hovering indoors!

How might you know there’s something interfering with your or your team’s airspace?  First, you don’t need me to tell you something’s there. You know. You see it in how people interact. You hear it in unresolved complaints. You sense it in the silence when the silence isn’t thoughtful, it’s tense. You feel it in your tight chest and shallow breath.

Consider this:  The ‘something’ – the foreign weather balloon that messing with your team’s environment – is a conversation.

Good news: Because it’s a conversation, and you have the power of language, you can clear it up with a new conversation.

News Flash: Foreign conversation balloons are everyone’s responsibility

It matters less who launched the disruptive, toxic conversation. It matters more who’s willing to clear it out of the air space.  At the very least, if you hear people promoting an unproductive, trust-breaking conversation, ask them to stop.  Convene with a commitment to clear it up.  Use this blog if it helps call people to action.

Don’t wait for the leader to notice the conversations that are messing with the airspace. Be bold. Speak up. There are no unaffected bystanders.  Everyone’s breathing the same air.

‘Til next news flash, take care.