Trigger Question #160:
Sometimes I think we are too quick to blame people when something goes wrong at work. We want to find a culprit, and we prefer the culprit to be human. Why? Because tongue-lashing a person feels so much better than kicking an inanimate object.
Next time the urge to lash out strikes you, stop. Ask yourself these three questions:
- Have we made it difficult for people to succeed by making it easy for them to fail?
- Is there something in our policies and procedures that might have caused this issue? For example, do we demand rigid compliance over sensible empowerment?
- Are our systems poorly designed? For example, do we depend on inflexible, antiquated practices?
Yes, I agree, we must often begin problem solving by making assumptions because we seldom have all the information we need. But we will create a more effective work environment if we start with constructive assumptions.
Surely, we would be better leaders if we assume first that people are not automatically at fault. And we would be better managers if we assume first that our systems, or our policies and procedures, could be at fault.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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