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How could you even think of serving this flavored butter milk in a sleek bottle? It’s so awful and doesn’t go well with the overall ambiance of the café”, Josephine couldn’t resist her strong views finding its expression.
It is quite common to have people around in an organization who has strong views on some decision taken by the leadership team and can’t resist pushing through their strong opinion around the organization.
Josephine is a talented young brand manager with creative ideas and would not only push through her views but also would make the others feel how awful their decision is. Josephine’s views had its own merits and was valued with good regard by Philip, one of the leadership team who happens to take a decision on the way they serve flavored butter milk in their café.
Josephine was of the opinion that it should be served in a juice decanter and a bottle that looks like a milk bottle is an awful way of presenting it as it resembles a baby food. While getting her point across, she obviously had strong passion that disparaged the choice of others and besides getting across her views, she would go on belittling the other ideas.
It is an interesting management behavior that most budding managers embody and a learning from such situations is that it is not what you say that matters but how you say it. It takes skill and maturity to convey your strong views across with due regard to other’s ideas and this is indeed a dexterity that no business school teaches you.
Making a scene about one’s strong views on any specific decision of the organization is common with many managers and often people fail in the way their points are put across.
Frequently, we come across situations and decisions that the organization takes which would be an appalling decision as per us and some managers react to it building negativity in organization. Adding to the opposition, one would even go to the extent of campaigning on how bad the other’s idea is in an informal way. Does it ring a bell? This is very much prevalent in most organization and is just a manifestation of tapered human behavior.
The scene takes different dimension when personal ego comes to play and one would not stop to take a look at it from other’s perspective wherein objective view of the decision takes a back seat.
Let’s leave the situation aside, and look at it from the perspective of an interesting management case. As a manager, one would be putting their personality and maturity at risk when an opinion is expressed while demeaning someone else’s opinion.
We come across such characters in all organizations who debases others ideas by proliferating how bad the idea of others is against their marvelous ideas? Such managers or individuals need guidance as they just don’t have either the maturity or the perspective of how coherence of the team needs to be valued yet express the strong views of some decisions of the management in an organization.
Often managers fail in separating themselves from situations and getting to a behavior mode of listening to others around, giving importance to the thoughts of others, yet presenting the strong views of oneself without demeaning the other ideas is a skill that comes with enhanced perception of everything around and one’s self.
In such situation, it is important to keep the below in mind so that one is seen as matured manager who regards the team’s ideas yet expresses his / her opinion and explains the reason for the strong opinion in a manner that bring in an environment of inclusiveness:
1. “I” Factor – Always keep the person out of yourself but bring the situation in front.
A better decision and a better team effort and a better positivity is possible, the moment one takes the I from self and bring the situation in front.
2. Good Idea Vs Bad Idea – There are no good or bad decisions, but there is always a decision and it could turn good results or not so good results.
When a decision need to be arrived, it is important to come to a common ground rather than move in different direction. A common ground will come only if all in the organization and those in decision making comes to value each one’s ideas and debates it pragmatically.
3. How you say Vs What you say – The tone of voice, the aggression in expression, the body language etc. is extremely critical when debates happen and that can only come if the “I” is out of the discussion.
4. Bring an act of inclusiveness – Managers must develop the habit of being inclusive wherein the others around is seen as part of them and not away from them. The moment you feel everyone and everything around is part of you, you start looking at everything from an angle of care and responsibility. Then, there is no my idea and their idea, it takes the shape of our idea.
5. Avoid Creeping – Often the tendency is to lean over the audience to get more ears for one’s strong opinion / idea and that brings more negativity into one. Rather, one should regard the other ideas and if required, get views on both the ideas in a fair manner without advertising more for one’s own idea. It takes a conscious effort to stay away from creeping on others campaigning for one’s ideas when subjected to a debate.
Binu Prasad
http://www.myartofbeing.com
http://www.binuwick.com
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