Stop aiming to be right

Welcome back to the Evolving Workplace Newsletter, where we will explore the changing nature of teams, collaboration, and the future of work.?

If this is your first step toward the future design of work, you can learn more about me and what I do here .

Has anyone ever told you to stop aiming to be right? It sounds counterintuitive. We’re taught to go after our goals with laser sharp focus. To map out our journeys from A to B to C, and through hard work and determination, we will reach our destination. However, progress isn’t as direct as we’d like to believe, and sometimes aiming to be right can be more of a hindrance than an advantage.

This conversation has been on my mind as we navigate what is often referred to as the debate between work-from-home and return-to-the-office. When leaders and employees approach dialogue with uncompromising convictions, the pitfalls of needing to be “right” prevent us from making real progress.

Our world is changing, so it makes sense that our traditional modes of working must adapt and change, too. When we approach workplace dynamics with this mindset, we can recognize that these conversations are not about debating or compromising, but moving forward with the common goal of developing happier, healthier, more efficient workplaces for everyone.

The cost of needing to be right

Often, when we’re focused on being “right,” we’re leaping to the first solution that we can find. We touched on this in my last newsletter . Our first impulse is not always the best choice, and if we don’t allow the time and space for dialogue, then we’re missing an opportunity to consider other options.?

If we’re too attached to our ideas being the right ones, our own biases will stand between us and seriously considering other options. Our objective becomes less about finding the best solution for everyone and more about proving why we’re right.

And when we’re busy proving ourselves right, the implication is that those who disagree with us are wrong. This is not the way to foster meaningful dialogue. It only stirs up defensiveness, unnecessary conflict, and resentment.

Why do we need to be right?

The need to be right doesn’t just stem overconfidence (although for some people, it might), but allowing ourselves to not be right can be vulnerable.?

For leaders, letting go of your need to be right may mean confronting fears of appearing weak or indecisive. Employees may fear appearing incompetent or unprepared. But if we don’t interrogate our need to be right, we may face much greater consequences.

Maybe our need to be right stems from fear of failure. Recently, Amy Edmondson spoke about failure on the HBR podcast “The New World of Work ” with Adi Ignatius. Adi brought up that some industries can’t tolerate failure, such as airlines. But Amy points out that, actually, the opposite is true. Airlines encourage speaking up about failure. They’re tolerant of human error so “we can catch and correct, we can train, we can allow people to take the kinds of risks and experiments…in safe settings like the simulator, not in the execution of the real duties.”

When we understand that failure and being wrong are part of our journey to progress, we’re able to approach innovation and experimentation with a growth mindset.?

What does progress look like to you?

On a map, it’s straightforward. Progress is when you watch with satisfaction as your little blue dot presses on to your destination and the countdown to your ETA inches closer to zero.?

For organizations, it isn’t so simple. There are many more moving parts—various parties balancing their interests and goals, unforeseen obstacles, and the requirement of different skills and knowledge bases.?

Progress can only occur when everyone is on the same page. In Vikas Mittal, Alessandro Piazza, and Ashwin Malshe’s Harvard Business Review article, “Is Your Company as Strategically Aligned as You Think It Is? ” they found that, while 82% of frontline employees, middle managers, and senior executives across 12 organizations reported that they felt strategic agreement within their companies, actual alignment was only measured at 23%. This is a huge disparity between where organizations think they align and where they actually align and can lead to big problems.?

How do we get on the same page??

The only way to achieve real progress is to engage in meaningful dialogue. This requires:

1. Inviting everyone to the table - As evidenced by Mittal, Piazza, and Malshe’s article, “Too often, executives and employees alike find themselves in an echo chamber, assuming that everyone shares the same understanding of the company’s strategy while actually pursuing divergent or even clashing goals.” When we foster open dialogue, all parties are able to share their unique experiences and perspectives.?
2. Encouraging psychological safety - If employees do not feel safe speaking up, they’re only going to share what they think you want to hear. This does your organization a huge disservice—you’re both risking missing issues before they’re too late and losing out on opportunities for exciting innovations.?
3. Devoting time and space to ongoing conversations - As I mentioned in my HBR article, “Tension Is Rising Around Remote Work ,” the dialogue must be ongoing as preferences, needs, technologies, and market demands change. And, devoting regular time for these conversations will help build trust and psychological safety.?

Rather than focusing on being right, we can move forward with the goal of fostering meaningful conversations, trusting that this is how we can achieve the best solutions for everyone in our organization. This may involve some compromise, but it’s about more than meeting each other in the middle. Together, we’re learning to thrive within the new, ever-evolving world of work.

The world is changing, and so is the workplace. Subscribe to The Evolving Workplace Newsletter to learn more about the changing nature of teams, collaboration, and the future of the workplace, or connect with me via email: [email protected] .?