Getting to the truth - there are three sides to every story
It's not uncommon to find leaders and managers making decisions that fundamentally affect the business (and people) based on subjective hearsay and "opinions".
A lot of this comes down to who managers and leaders like to listen to, who they trust and sometimes, who speaks with more confidence than others. But, as Deming said, and I often have to repeat to leaders:
Without data, you're just another person with an opinion - Edward Deming
What Deming is saying here is that opinions do matter, but not as much as evidence and data.
Yet, not a single meeting or day goes by in a business where decisions, large and small, are made using opinions and subjective feelings. Sometimes, don't get me wrong, that may be all we can do, and the more experienced we become, the more we can see patterns and make informed movements forward. But, it's always risky without evidence and data.
One of the most troublesome times for a leader or manager is when you get two conflicting accounts of an event. You hear two (sometimes more) ideas, conflicting observations, subjective opinions and you are tasked with making a decision.
This could be due to someone upsetting others in the workplace, a release event that didn't go to plan, a budget meetings that went belly up or any host of events that happen in our workplaces.
Many decisions often fall to leaders and managers (and anyone else for that matter) when they have two sides of a story.
But, one thing that I learned as a journalist is that there are always three sides to a story (and sometimes more).
- Their side
- The other side (or your side)
- The truth
It's the truth we're after. Always. The evidence, the data, the behaviours, the actual results, the actual consequences, the numbers, the tracking of outcomes....you get it.
The truth is a solid rock to move forward from. The truth gives us the right stepping stone to take the next step. The truth gives us the data we need to make a truly informed decision.
Yet, it's perennially tricky to obtain the truth in business, certainly a business where people feel they will be punished for mistakes, or a business that takes no time out to reflect and learn.
You've heard me say before that a mistake is nothing more than a chance to make the business better - but sadly, in some organisations that's simply not the case.
Alas, you end up with opinions, hiding of information, lying, bullshit, misdirection, fudged numbers, watermelon reporting and a whole host of other spurious behaviours that people use to avoid getting into trouble - and that all makes your next decision even more precarious.
When you move forward from a false point of your journey you often compound the problems and make things worse.
So, we must try to get to the truth. Sometimes we have time to dig into the data and evidence, sometimes we must gather what we can, and never will we ever have enough data to make a rock solid, cast iron decision. But we should try to get the truth.
That fight that erupted in a meeting - hear the sides and dig into the actual behaviours of those involved. What did they do? What did they say and how did they say it? What was their body language conveying? What was the affect? We're after the truth. Do we need more training, some feedback, a performance moment?
That release that failed and broke the live system - why did it happen? What could we have done to prevent it? What were the consequences? How long did it take to see the problem? How long did it take to roll it back? Was any process skipped? Was it a genuine human error or a systemic problem that will show again?
That marketing campaign that completely missed the mark - did we have solid data to suggest it would work? How much did it cost? Why did it fail? What could we have done differently? What was the consequence?
At all times you're looking for the truth about what actually happened.
Listen to one side, then the other, and maybe even more sides - and realise that none of these are likely true without the solid evidence, data and numbers.
People don't set out to hide the truth without some reason to do it. People often simply see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear. We see things differently, thankfully. We have our own unique perspectives. We have our own motivations, fears and worries. And so, as a leader or manager, it's our job to find the truth in the story; to dig deep and understand what's really happening, so we can move forward from a solid foundation.
And if you have a work culture that punishes mistakes and failures, then I'd suggest you start working on changing that.
Show people that you yourself fail and make mistakes, learn from mistakes with the goal of preventing the same ones from happening time and time again. Do a 5 why to get to the root cause, increase training, give people feedback and encourage people to own their own mistakes in a positive growth-orientated way (what could you do differently next time?).
Also remember that all mistakes that happen underneath your leadership - are your fault. It's not a blame culture, but the reality is, it's always your fault. Was it a wrong hire, not enough training, were you too distracted to notice an impending problem? Did you not give people time and space to improve the process? Were you pushing people too hard, or not listening - and the list goes on.
The truth is hard to obtain but be cautious moving ahead from one side of a story - it's rarely accurate.
Good journalism is about finding the truth in the mix of opinions, observations and personal beliefs. The same thing is true for good management and leadership.
There are always at least three sides to a story, their side, the other side, the truth.
It's our job to get to the truth in a safe, insightful and creative way - and to learn from this, take a well thought through next step and ensure that nobody feels like they can't be honest in your team.
The truth never hurt anyone as the Stoics would say.