The Benefit of the Doubt in 2021

For every article I read lately about how our society needs to turn down the conversational/confrontational temperature, I read ten others designed to stoke whatever fire the writers want to talk about: race, politics, religion - even the pandemic. Last week, I read a journal article by Amy C. Edmonson and Zhike Lei (2014) on psychological safety. I came across the following paragraph as they described the concept's history, starting with Edgar Schein and Warren Bennis in 1965. 

"William Kahn (1990) rejuvenated research on psychological safety with thoughtful qualitative studies of summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm that showed how psychological safety enables personal engagement at work. He proposed that psychological safety affects individuals' willingness to 'employ or express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances,' rather than disengage or 'withdraw and defend their personal selves' (p. 694). Further, Kahn argued that people are more likely to believe they will be given the benefit of the doubt—a defining characteristic of psychological safety—when relationships within a given group are characterized by trust and respect. Using descriptive statistics from summer camp counselors and members of an architecture firm, he also showed a quantitative relationship between personal engagement and psychological safety in both contexts."

The sentence in bold type struck an obvious chord. Imagine if we operated from a place of trust and respect. Think about the possibilities if we would give others the benefit of the doubt; just a little more often. Consider the world of difference such an act could have on our world.

Here's what it might look like: If someone makes a comment that offends you and the other person says that it's not what she meant, believe her. If someone uses dated language to describe a person or situation, take a moment to educate him on how the language has evolved and why it matters. If a person shares a political point of view that is diametrically opposed to your own, ask questions that come from a place of genuinely seeking to understand. We all have stories that shape our beliefs. We've all had experiences that inform our values. Care enough to ask about them. I suspect that even if you don't reach the same conclusions, you can appreciate where their beliefs come from.  What's so hard about giving people the benefit of the doubt? The more you do it (and the more we all do it), the more we may experience people giving us the benefit of the doubt. 

I believe most people have good hearts, good intentions and are generous with one another beyond measure. Since we read so much on LinkedIn about leadership, let’s start showing some. The power of we begins with each of us. Let's tap into the best part of ourselves and our view of others in 2021 by giving each other the benefit of the doubt – at home, school, work, and in our communities. As always, if we in the grassroots take the lead, our institutional leaders will follow.