Talk, but Listen

I guess you were in a situation where you knew everything about a problem. What happened (that easy since you see what happened). Why it happened (there they come, first simplifications). Who is responsible (I got you, Mister Guilty).

Then you have several options.

• Wait actively until the problem will resolve itself. In other words do nothing. That’s what most managers do. That way you avoid difficult discussion and all the hassle.

• Yell over them. Get people who are responsible for the problem. Tell them where they were wrong. Tell them what they need to change. Get them back to work as soon as possible. You know better.

• Talk and listen. Tell how you see the situation. Ask people who you believe are the source of the problem what they think about situation. Ask where you can be wrong in your judgment. Try to find the way to avoid this kind of problems in future. Jointly.

I always tried to avoid running someone down. But even in situations when I came to the point I was ready to choose that option open discussion with mind set to listen not to yell brought much better results. Like recently when instead of one issue I was sure we had we found two others, completely different problems.