T’is the season of goodwill to all, and so it feels fitting to end the year by reflecting on those times when perhaps that sentiment has felt missing.
This week, I happened upon an image that, for me, genuinely warrants the description of 'a picture that is worth a thousand words.'
It is a simple image that sums up all those occasions that we humans seem to find ourselves in from time to time, where we ‘know’ with absolute certainty that we are ‘right’ and just cannot understand how anyone else would think differently.
It reminded me of a radio interview I heard some years ago with two, opposing, sides in an industrial dispute. You could tell that the two protagonists had prepared themselves to do battle and persuade the BBC’s listeners why they were right and how the other side’s behaviour was both unbelievable and reprehensible.
But then the interviewer did something unexpected; instead of asking them to justify their own positions, he actually asked each of them to explain the concerns of the other side that had led to the impasse and a looming strike.
You could almost hear the colour drain from their cheeks as both spluttered, blustered and tried to summon a coherent response; neither could. Both these gentlemen were very senior figures in the dispute, but neither could explain the other side’s point of view! It was a genius piece of interviewing and, like the above picture, it was a classic example of situations that many of us have found ourselves in, whereby 'just because you are right, does not mean that I am wrong. You just haven’t seen life from my side.'
As all
great managers know, there are countless ways that our ability to see a
situation from a balanced perspective, or help others to do so, will be crucial
to our success.
The
great news is that there is a huge array of material in Managers’ Library that
will help you to do so, including some brand new material. Here are 5 of my
favourites to get you started:
Finally, on behalf of
all the team at Managers' Library, let me wish you a very Merry Christmas. We
look forward to bringing you and your team lots more fantastic learning
activities in 2017.