The Other Side of the Story

One of the smartest things we can do is to seek the truth.

So, when we are hit with "Everybody says that Suzie is disruptive to the workplace,"  the smartest thing we can do is to ask the question, "When you say everybody, exactly how many people?"

When we are told "Mark has been difficult to work with since February," we will not accept it as gospel - but instead we will have a conversation with Mark.

When the assumption is that the problem with daily reporting is a broken connection - rather than ride with that baseline - we are going to ask if the problem is really a broken connection.

If two or more people are in conflict - we are going to spend time with each to understand exactly what it is that is going on.

If someone says a process is broken - we are going to sit with that person and ask very specific questions as to why they believe the process is broken.  (Is it really the process that is the problem - or is it the lack of adherence to the process that is the problem?)

The baseline is this - there is incredible value in finding the truth.  That process, however, often requires that we engage in fact finding within several different dimensions.

If we don't do this - we won't have the full story and are waiting to be victimized when the full story emerges.

If we don't spend the time seeking the truth - we will not gain the trust and respect that we need to lead.

And if we do find the other side of the story, we will be known as truthseekers who are fair and effective.

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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available on Amazon Kindle.