Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
We all faced challenging situations in our career. Many of us immediately want to choose to be part of the solution and not the problem. If you jump to the solution immediately you surely skip the blame game, but you might miss a very important thing.
I remember when I faced crucial challenges in my career: when the regional project with 13 countries I managed had a service which was questioned by the client in Prague, hundreds of km far from where I was at that time which jeopardized the company results. Or when an internal communication was completely misunderstood and created serious tension and resistance within the organization few weeks ago.
We humans, we have the tendency to find someone to blame especially under high pressure situations. According to poet S. Weores we should not stand the thought to improve others. Rather we should improve ourselves only.
Research shows that admitting what you feel guilty about in a situation like mine - even through inaction - is the best verbal activity to gain momentum and use this opportunity to grow as fast as possible.
When I admitted in my crucial challenges that I put too much pressure on someone, or when I admitted I forgot to ask an important question from a manager during interview process, this has created healthier atmosphere, which pulled out all tension and helped everyone to calm down in those crucial situations and start looking in themselves for area to improve.
So, my experience proves to me that unless it is an emergency situation I should be part of the problem first, and then be part of the solution. It's not either or.