Shared Risk Calls for Shared Attention
A partner's work begins to falter, and our first reaction may be to explain what they are doing wrong. The explanation can be accurate. It does not tell us what we should do about our own reliance on them.
Shared work creates shared exposure. We can ask what has changed, say how it affects us, and examine the assumptions we made when things were going well. Perhaps we stopped checking an important handoff because it had always worked before.
Taking responsibility for our part does not make us responsible for every decision the other person makes. Nor does it require silence about their mistakes. It gives us a place from which to speak clearly, adjust our own plans, and offer help where help is wanted.
Interdependence becomes easier to manage when we can name it before a failure turns into a contest over blame.