How are you judging others?
The next time you evaluate someone, have a think about what you are judging – are you considering all aspects, have you considered the journey the individual has taken to get to the outcome or just the end result?
Deep down inside, we all love judging other people, especially politicians and our bosses. However, if we judge them based purely on outcomes, we might end up evaluating them incorrectly. Unless we’re paying attention during the entire effort, we rarely know what process someone used to reach their outcome. That makes it harder to judge them accurately.
I once took a mediation course where I had the joy of mediating a 4-party negotiation between the heads of several organisations. Each organization cared about different things, with different priorities. The historical society wanted a port heritage listed, the economic development agency wanted the port re-vamped and commercialised, the conservationists wanted land made off-limits and the Mayor cared about economic development and tourist trade.
The final agreement didn’t meet everyone’s needs but everyone was satisfied that they could live with the negotiated agreement. To each organisation, the outcome may have looked like a failure. But the representatives reached the best agreement they could, given their conflicting interests.
It’s easy to say ‘my [politician, leader, manager] failed by not getting us the outcome we wanted.’ But if we really want competent leaders we do better to judge the process they use. Do they take steps to understand the issues? Do they understand whose support is needed and build the necessary coalitions? Do they compromise where needed, and hold firm where needed? In then end you may find success where you first found failure.
Author: Steph Jeuken
Categories: Uncategorised, Self Development,