July 16, 2009 - Are You Afraid to Have Honest Conversations?

Main Idea

Do you like asking uncomfortable questions?  Are you afraid of telling someone that they may be wrong?  What was your reaction the last time someone who worked with you asked you a potentially embarrassing question?

Expansion of Idea

I was reading an article last night and a phrase that was used really stuck with me.  The phrase was “a culture of courageous conversations.”  Most of us do not do well with criticism or suggestions on how to improve.  Yet in the current environment, we have to constantly look for ways to improve.  A critical way of doing that is to create a culture where people can speak and not be afraid of repercussions.  How much business are we losing because someone identified a problem or a better way of doing things but was afraid of telling a boss or coworker? 

Sometimes it can be difficult to confront an employee who is doing something wrong. Or maybe you do not want to stick your neck out with an off the wall idea that might be a much better way of doing something.  Bigger companies have huge political problems with everyone trying to not offend anyone higher than them.  But this affects smaller companies in much the same way.  You may like your coworker, but the fact that they are chewing gum when they talk to customers creates problems with customers.  Creating a culture of courageous conversations can overcome a lot of performance issues because they can be identified and fixed.  People can learn to help others with everyone knowing that we are just trying to create a great organization.

Areas to Start:

  1. Call a team meeting and see if they feel they can talk openly about problems. 

  2. Apologize for your handling of situations in the past and ask for ways to improve the handling of problems in the future. 

  3. Focus strictly on the culture.  The problem solving will come later.  Look for systems that can help the identification of problems and suggestions.