I must admit that I am somewhat embarassed about the story that follows. However, as is often the case in an uncomfortable situation, there is a lesson to be learned.
I schedule informal meetings with members of my departments as a way of staying in touch with our front line customer service reps; to let them know how much I appreciate their efforts, to promote a positive relationships among the employees and to encourage two way relationship building. Three of us meet at our cafe’ for coffee and conversation.
This week, one of the people I met with is an employee who has a tendency to question – no, to challenge – direction and policy in an often inappropriate manner. Her work is good, but her attitude it seems, at times, can be poor. I have never been directly involved in these incidents, but have certainly heard about them from my leadership team. As you might guess, I was a bit apprehensive as this meeting approached. I imagined the worst; negativity, sarcasm, sour grapes.
It turns out that this person was absolutely delightful! It was a wonderful, positive, upbeat conversation. I felt great after our meeting. Upon reflection, I think she simply doesn’t know how to appropriately question decisions or how to escalate concerns. With a little bit of coaching and development, we’ll be lucky to keep her as an employee.
How many times do we form an opinion without any personal experience to base it on? And, how many times that opinion turn out to be wrong?
Have you ever heard about someone else’s challenging interaction with a customer and then assumed you would also find that customer difficult to work with? Have you ever decided how you feel about a new project before you’ve been given all the facts? Perhaps you pre-judged a new team member based on the opinion of someone who used to work with that person? How many times have those prejudgments been wrong?
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Dictionary.com defines prejudge as: to pass judgment on prematurely or without sufficient reflection or investigation. As leaders, we need to avoid this trap. This is not to say we shouldn’t form judgments. We just need to be sure of our methodology. We need to be aware of our own biases that may impact our decisions. We need to ask ourselves,
“Is our decision based on solid evidence, knowledge or experience? Or, are we jumping to conclusions based on someone else’s opinion or experience?”
Jim Meisenheimer, creator of No-Brainer Sales Training, suggested in The Prejudging Predicament that “When you prejudge, you misjudge.” We need to be aware of that possibility as we make decisions, build relationships, and explore opportunities.
Do you have a similar story to share? When have you formed an opinion about a person or situation based on secondhand information, only to find out you should have judged for yourself?
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Eleanor Biddulph is the Executive Vice President of Client Services at Progressive Medical, Inc.
She can be reached at [email protected]
Image Source: insidesocal.com
