Trigger Question #10
If you voted recently, the outcome might be a disappointment to you. What will you do about it? (If the results don’t disappoint you, read on. This still applies to you.)
Hang on. It might not be a political voting season where you live, but somewhere, a vote is taking place. It could be in a boardroom, a meeting room, a locker room, a classroom. It could even be a what’s-for-dinner vote.
Sooner or later, you will be expected to vote. Yes, how you vote is a personal matter. But your attitude afterwards is not. If you are part of a team, that is.
I once worked with a very successful team of executives. They had one critical rule. Members could disagree and dispute as much as they wanted to before the team made its decision. But not afterwards. Once arguments were heard, votes tabled, and decisions made, every executive acted as if this was clearly the right decision.
The result? They executed most of their decisions very well and enjoyed successful outcomes.
I have also worked with executives who carried on wasting time and energy trying to convince colleagues that the decision they had already made was the wrong one. And that it would fail. Unsurprisingly, many of them weren’t around to see it succeed. (If you work against your colleagues, they will not tolerate you for long.)
Clearly, your attitude toward voting and its outcome, and thus to decision-making and execution, has consequences. At work, at home, in public.
But I still wonder, how will you behave after a decision is made? And where will you be when your colleagues celebrate their success?
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
. . .