Ataraxy Friday: OK to be wrong?
Nigel Donovan
Executive Stress Management > Executive Leadership Coach > Emotional Intelligence Coach > Executive Coaching
Hi,
“Build a bridge and make it toll-free.” - great advice from Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay in their excellent book “How to have impossible conversations: a very practical guide”.
But what does it mean?
Innovation requires ideas; ideas need to be shared, tested, and upgraded to find the best outcome or solution.
People don’t like to be wrong - especially when their job is to make decisions.??
Social or professional embarrassment, or cost associated with being wrong, stifles our willingness to:
a) volunteer ideas in the first place or?
b) change our mind if we’re mistaken.
Building a leadership culture where there are easy bridges back from being wrong is key to high performance problem-solving.
Make it simple and no big thing - build a bridge - help them shift their thinking simply and easily.??
For instance, “Yeah, I thought exactly the same thing until I learned about….” or a simple “No worries, all good.”
Also, make your bridge TOLL FREE!
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This means if/when someone does change their mind, don’t make it come at a cost.?
“About time!” or “I told you so” or “I cannot believe it took you so long to realise...”
If you want people to be open, to volunteer ideas, and change their minds easily, then model the behaviour you’d want in the same circumstance.??
Build a culture that makes it OK for people to simply and easily change their minds with minimal cost.
Build a bridge and make it toll-free.
Have an Ataraxic weekend.
Nigel
PS:? Are you feeling… Stuck, lonely, cranky, even with loved ones, grinding on with no clear way out?
Come to my Your Confident Mind Reboot workshop and learn how to take back control of your life; to move ahead with confidence and energy. Happy just being you.