Home topics workplace managing-blogs Managing Managing The risk of putting your head in the sand Rick Mapperson March 21, 2012 Have you ever buried your head in the sand in an attempt to ignore a problem or evade an angry client ? We’ve all tried it. But does it ever work? Contrary to popular belief, ostriches don’t actually hide their heads in bushes or the sand, although they do sometimes lie on the ground to make themselves inconspicuous. However, the saying still carries a lot of meaning. When we make a mistake or are faced with a challenge, conflict or unpleasant situation, our first instinct is often to put our head in the sand and hope the problem either goes away or magically fixes itself. For example, I’ve recently been helping a client who has accumulated over $100,000 in credit card debt. When the cards were maxed out this client’s ‘plan of attack’ was to stop taking calls from the various banks. This wasn’t a solution – it just got the banks even more offside. I am now negotiating a debt reduction arrangement with these companies and liquidating what assets the client has to pay these debts off once and for all. This client has learned the hard way that putting your head in the sand simply makes problems worse rather than better. When things are not going smoothly in business, the worst thing you can do is to shut the office door and pretend all is well. You need