Starting from positive intent

When things go wrong it is, perhaps, human nature to seek the source of the fault, to lay blame, to want to know why it happened and who or what was responsible.

It’s an all too easy road in organisational life, especially with the pressure to deliver results. Yet, it’s a road that can make a difficult situation worse. The need for speedy resolution can usher in unhelpful assumptions, a failure to explore context, attaching fault, if not blame, based on a previous experience. There might even be a temptation to use the situation to advance an agenda – something we have seen this past week from the new American President in tragic circumstances.

Failures, mistakes, things going wrong are a part of life. And they can be the source of deep riches of learning if we can pause long enough and take the time to explore.

A positive curiosity (rather than the more negative energy of seeking a culprit) is vital and using this to ask questions to understand context and gain clarity. Then it’s about reflection – synthesising what we know and what we’ve learned to create the best possible outcome and inform better approaches when the next problem arises.

Perhaps most important in these situations though is our mind-set. If we approach all our work and colleagues with a mind-set of positive intent i.e. assuming people are committed to getting things right rather than wrong, irrespective of whether things are going well or not, it changes the way we communicate and the way we inquire.

As a result we will generate a far more positive response and be continuing to build trust and relationship in the process.