"We have to learn to be a bit more human about our shortcomings which will make you a winner in people's minds."
Just the other day I was having a conversation with a customer about an aspect of detailing.
Before I knew it, the conversation shifted from the original discussion to which one of us was correct.
This incident made me think about how often this same thing happens in business and in particular in the detailing business, "when everyone is right....or so they think."
As a business owner you are called upon to make a great many decisions. The more decisions you make right, the more likely you are to be successful.
However, it is easy to trip yourself up when you become more interested in being right than in making the right decision.
WHO OR WHAT IS RIGHT?
John Naisbitt states in his book, Mind Set" about the limiting effect our need to be right has on us.
"People in our society are conditioned to have to be right. The parents are right. The teacher is right. The boss is right. Who is right overrules what is right. Couples have major quarrels about considerations that are forgotten as the struggle to be right rages on. Having to be right becomes a huge barrier to learning and understanding. It keeps you from growing, for there is no growth without changing, correcting and questioning yourself."
The need to be right means that you sometimes stop asking for, or listening to the advise of people because it takes too much energy to change your opinion and admit that someone else just might be right. When this happens, it becomes a self-limiting exercise.
Consider the impact the need to be right can have on two owners who are equal partners. Ever have a partner in business? You know what I mean?
Neither partner wants to be told by the other that he is not doing his job right. "After all," they say to themselves, "what authority does my partner have telling me how to do my job? We are equal partners."
So rather than exploring with our partner ways to improve performance, you dig your heels in the sand and insist things are doing just fine.
As a result, communication breaks down, tensions build up and improvement stops. And if these two partners are also related to one another, it can be like adding quick-dry cement to the heels they have already dug in the sand.
BLAME or DENIABILITY CREATES LOOSERS
Many times people insist on being right to avoid looking bad, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong.
For example, a business decision you insisted be done goes bad. Rather than accepting responsibility for the decision, correcting it, and learning from it, you insist you were right all along and proceed to blame everyone else for the failure.
Or, you deny making the decision in the first place. So, not only do you not learn from your mistake, you loose the trust and confidence of your partner, employees or friends.
When it comes to employees, your need to be right can be driven by our need to preserve the authority of your position.
You may think that admitting you are wrong to an employee will make you look weak, when in reality, the exact opposite is true. Or, you believe it would be admitting your own falability.
Guess what?
Your employees already know you are fallible.
But being honest and admitting a mistake will elevate you in their eyes.
When you are able to "not be right," you let people know you are approachable, that you are open to new ideas and to learning, and that you value others opinions.
In short you open yourself to an entire world of new ideas and opportunities.
As they say, "if the shoe fits wear it."
Just some well intentioned thoughts for personal growth
Regards
Bud Abraham
Just the other day I was having a conversation with a customer about an aspect of detailing.
Before I knew it, the conversation shifted from the original discussion to which one of us was correct.
This incident made me think about how often this same thing happens in business and in particular in the detailing business, "when everyone is right....or so they think."
As a business owner you are called upon to make a great many decisions. The more decisions you make right, the more likely you are to be successful.
However, it is easy to trip yourself up when you become more interested in being right than in making the right decision.
WHO OR WHAT IS RIGHT?
John Naisbitt states in his book, Mind Set" about the limiting effect our need to be right has on us.
"People in our society are conditioned to have to be right. The parents are right. The teacher is right. The boss is right. Who is right overrules what is right. Couples have major quarrels about considerations that are forgotten as the struggle to be right rages on. Having to be right becomes a huge barrier to learning and understanding. It keeps you from growing, for there is no growth without changing, correcting and questioning yourself."
The need to be right means that you sometimes stop asking for, or listening to the advise of people because it takes too much energy to change your opinion and admit that someone else just might be right. When this happens, it becomes a self-limiting exercise.
Consider the impact the need to be right can have on two owners who are equal partners. Ever have a partner in business? You know what I mean?
Neither partner wants to be told by the other that he is not doing his job right. "After all," they say to themselves, "what authority does my partner have telling me how to do my job? We are equal partners."
So rather than exploring with our partner ways to improve performance, you dig your heels in the sand and insist things are doing just fine.
As a result, communication breaks down, tensions build up and improvement stops. And if these two partners are also related to one another, it can be like adding quick-dry cement to the heels they have already dug in the sand.
BLAME or DENIABILITY CREATES LOOSERS
Many times people insist on being right to avoid looking bad, even in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are wrong.
For example, a business decision you insisted be done goes bad. Rather than accepting responsibility for the decision, correcting it, and learning from it, you insist you were right all along and proceed to blame everyone else for the failure.
Or, you deny making the decision in the first place. So, not only do you not learn from your mistake, you loose the trust and confidence of your partner, employees or friends.
When it comes to employees, your need to be right can be driven by our need to preserve the authority of your position.
You may think that admitting you are wrong to an employee will make you look weak, when in reality, the exact opposite is true. Or, you believe it would be admitting your own falability.
Guess what?
Your employees already know you are fallible.
But being honest and admitting a mistake will elevate you in their eyes.
When you are able to "not be right," you let people know you are approachable, that you are open to new ideas and to learning, and that you value others opinions.
In short you open yourself to an entire world of new ideas and opportunities.
As they say, "if the shoe fits wear it."
Just some well intentioned thoughts for personal growth
Regards
Bud Abraham
