Monday 22 November 2010

Harmony Seeker

The kindest of the bandit gang, Harmony Seeker wants to please other people and always puts their needs first.  A great person to have in the gang; smoothing over any conflict, always happy to help out, Harmony sounds everybody out before any big decisions are made.
Sounds great, doesn’t it, the ideal person to have around, but this bandit puts themselves under tremendous pressure and at some point is likely to go off like a shaken bottle of pop.
Harmony tends to shy away from conflict and confrontation and unless really riled will avoid any behaviour that might result in friction.  Rather than rock the boat, Harmony will accept unreasonable deadlines instead of simply saying “no” or asking for more time and this can often disadvantage (and irritate) other members of the gang.
Fellow Time Bandits often take advantage of Harmony’s kind nature and sympathetic ear, unburdening themselves both of worries or problems and often of workload!  Poor Harmony often falls behind and finds it hard to prioritise; after all, prioritising means putting one person’s needs above another’s.
The need to involve people and solicit opinions means that decisions go unmade for quite some time, to the frustration of the bandit chief and those bandits of a different disposition.  Harmony might find that certain responsibilities are taken away and given to someone who can make snappier decisions and isn’t so “soft”!
So what words of wisdom can we offer to Harmony Seeker?  It’s important that someone cares about the needs of others and a character like Harmony can add balance in today’s somewhat ruthless and cutthroat world but maybe we could encourage a little selfishness now and then and also challenge Harmony to take a risk by making a decision without consulting everyone first.  Choose those occasions wisely and be surprised by how few and how little people are upset!  Just be careful if the decision affects other people pleasers too.

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