Happy Easter everyone!
Hearing about doctors or nurses being fired for telling the truth about the lack of personal protective equipment in their hospitals or a Navy Captain being fired for bringing to light what was happening on his ship during the COVID-19 pandemic is deeply disturbing. These doctors and nurses have every right to ask for help in protecting themselves on the front lines. And Navy Captains should be working to protect their crew. Why does telling the truth and asking for help pose such a threat to some leaders? Is the organization’s pride really more important than protecting lives?
As leaders and change agents, we sometimes come face-to-face with hard truths. The question is, what kind of leader and change agent are you choosing to be? Are you one who can handle hearing the truth and rewards employees for bringing you accurate views of the organization? Or are you a leader / change agent who attacks those who speak the truth if the truth is what you consider “bad news”? If you’re the former, keep up the great work! If you’re the latter, and seek a different way, below are five things you can do to start becoming a leader and change agent who can handle hearing the truth:
Welcome other viewpoints instead of being frustrated by them as better information enables leaders to make better decisions. This means being appreciative and grateful for alternative viewpoints.
Respond with a tone and body language that is inviting as studies show 70->90% of how your message lands has to do with your voice, body language, and other nonverbal cues. So if your tone, emotion, and body language conveys you’re upset with the employee for telling you this information, yet the words you’re saying are the opposite, the employee will believe the nonverbal part of your response instead of your words.
Ask for facts / data to back-up the employee’s viewpoint if they have yet to provide them
Follow-up on the concerning information provided and review the facts / data
Be willing to change your perception / viewpoint and close the loop with the employee. If the facts / data provided backs up what the employee is telling you, it’s time to shift your viewpoint and decide what action you’ll take to address the new truth brought to you. Once you’ve decided on the action, it’s time to circle back to the employee and communicate what you’ll be doing about it.
The more you can demonstrate you’re a leader and change agent who cares, reviews the facts, and takes appropriate action, the more comfortable your employees will feel in bringing you the truth of what is going on in the organization.
Call to Action
What is one takeaway you’ll be putting into action? Use the comment feature to share your thoughts.
Found this blog useful or know someone this can help? Please share it with your network.
If there’s a particular change agent topic you’d like to see covered on this blog, please comment.
About the Author: Rosanne Essiambre helps change agents and departments in one-on-one and group settings to be seen, be heard, and be effective in bringing about change in the organization and/or in their personal lives. She provides consulting and facilitation to organizations to improve communications and collaboration, smooth out the change / transformation journey, get to the root cause of an issue so it can be solved for good, improve processes, and implement successful lessons learned. And she conducts workshops, trains, and speaks on Energy Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience, Being a Change Agent and more. If you or your organization could use support with your change effort or some inspiration, contact Rosanne for a complimentary consultation. Rosanne is a Change Agent Coach, Facilitator, Six Sigma Black Belt, Change Management / Continuous Improvement Consultant, Speaker, and Energy Leadership Index Master Practitioner with more than 20 years experience working on a variety of transformations across a diverse set of industries both domestically and internationally, while continuously improving herself.