Just the Facts
Do any of your direct reports (or for that matter, anyone at all!) continually challenge you in an unproductive way?
More then likely it’s because you are letting your emotions guide your leadership rather then the actual facts.
As human beings, emotions are a part of us and vital to living our lives to their fullest. But emotions easily get in the way of effective decision making, whether we are managers, entrepreneurs, or simply trying to do our jobs.
They get us into difficult situations which could lead to open conflicts with others, avoidance of some, and rising blood pressure within ourselves.
The trick is to convert any emotional issue into a measurable fact.
For example, recently teaching a management skills workshop, one of the managers was frustrated by a moody employee. This manager felt the employee’s moodiness was a downer and affected morale.
Okay, but how would you approach the employee? If you tell them they are moody, the reaction could be one from argumentative to denial to filing charges for harassment.
If you can convert this moodiness to a fact you have a measurable way in.
For example, in this case, you could say: In last week’s meeting, you gave a reason this project would go wrong.
Using this fact you can create a conversation which will focus on how to either stop saying things like this, or balancing where it could go wrong with where it could go right.
Either way you’re avoiding the word moody. You are using facts.
If you can’t find a fact, it means it’s personal to you and more then likely not needed to be resolved for a better good. If this is the case, accepting and leaving it as is will alleviate a lot of conflict which leads to no resolution.
When you use facts to present situations which need to be resolved:
• You have thought about the situation before talking about it
• You shift the conversation to something which can be managed
• It’s not about you and your values
Shifting feelings into facts gets easier the more you do it.
And it feels good!
Learn how to come up with effective facts so you can communicate a complete message that will help minimize misunderstanding and conflict, reduces stress and increases overall productivity.
Whether this is something you or someone you know needs to do, Fulcrum Point Partners has the managerial tools to help you make the shift from subjectivity to objectivity to decrease your stress and conflict and increase your productivity!