I must say I am getting very frustrated to see more and more companies which workforce seems to function as a colossal Advisory Board. We should do this, and this; consider this or that. We are very good at this, bad at that.
A vast epidemic of diagnosis.
Invalidated statements are cheap. Getting away with the diagnosis, not only does not cost anything for people, but they also feel good about it. It’s called contribution.
This is reinforced by everybody, because nobody challenges those tsunamis of diagnosis so there is a, on demand, monumental feed back loop that positively reinforces more pontification. So, we have a communication problem, an accountability problem, a decision making problem, a leadership role model problems etc,
And?
There is no and. You mean, you want a part 2?
Collective winging and collective action are in each antipodes. The company is not a vast cathartic canvas, a colossal group psychotherapy with patients in the payroll.
The more the epidemic of diagnosis grows, the more the stock of ‘agency’ depletes. I don’t have to do anything anymore, others may, I just provide my contribution. Of course an honest, open, frank and bold contribution. And all phrases starting with ‘in my opinion’. Just in case.
But honesty is not here or there. Actually is a given. It should be the same as ‘since I am alive’. The rest of qualifiers ditto.
As the quote from the late US Senator Patrick Moynihan goes ‘Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
In the era of the epidemic of fake news, organizations have an epidemic of bleeding, unsubstantiated, constant drip of diagnosis and ‘contributions’ that create not only noise but also a self-reinforcing, ever scaling frame of self-inflicted negativity.
I hear some saying I am promoting silence of sweeping things under the carpet. Far form it, if they knew me well. I am promoting critical thinking.
We have to stop and challenge.
What does it mean?
Explain please
This is not how I see it
Why are you saying this?
And so on.
If you care for your company, don’t let ‘diagnostic sentences’ have a life of their own. Ask for part 2.
BTW, and saying ‘and I don’t know how to fix it’ is OK! At least this is an extra step to the qualification.
I wish we were less ‘open’ and more truthful; less ‘honest’; and more critical thinkers; less ‘bold’ and more meaningful.