Telling the emperor he has no clothes can be tricky. You remember the fairy tale about this. As I
remember, the naïve young boy came out of the encounter unscathed, but the
emperor was totally embarrassed.
When I was in Vietnam, I was an inexperienced, freshly
minted second lieutenant in a logistics company. On one of my early
assignments, I was detached to work with a unit on the coast. Landing craft would come up from Cam Ranh Bay
loaded with 5000 gallon tank trailers full of gasoline. When they arrived on the beach, the contents
of the tankers would be pumped into other tankers that then took the product to
the troops. Pumping the gasoline from
one trailer to another was time consuming.
I was observing the operation (that’s what officers do) with the
lieutenant colonel in charge and made the comment, “Sir, wouldn’t it be easier
just to exchange tankers? We pull the
loaded tankers off with the tractors, put the empty ones on the LST, and send
them back to Cam Ranh Bay to be refilled.”
He looked at me, and I expected him to say that was dumbest thing he had
ever heard, but instead he said, “That might just work.” I am sure that we violated some regulations
by the change, but it became standard procedure on that beach and saved a lot
of time.
I was not so fortunate on another occasion. I was involved in a planning team with the
executive director of a denominational judicatory I served. We had been encouraged to be open and honest
about ways to improve the way the organization worked. Another member of the team and I suggested some
ways that the executive office could communicate more effectively with members
of the organization. The response from
the rest of the team was silence and a disapproving look from the executive
officer. Needless to say, our
suggestions were never implemented.
What are the lessons here? For the person who is “telling the truth” as
he or she sees it, the motivation to speak must be a desire to make things
better for all concerned without seeking personal gain. Second, care must be
taken to address the process and not a person.
When it appears that the focus of concern is on a person, defenses go
up. Third, no matter how good you feel
that your idea may be, it will not necessarily be accepted. Fourth, begin honest has consequences and they are not always good ones!
There are some lessons for the hearer—the recipient of
the message--as well. First, assume that
the person making the suggestion wants to make things better for everyone,
including you. Second, try to suspend
judgment on the suggestion (and the speaker) and consider the possibilities
that result from pursuing their idea.
Third, don’t take it personally.
If you really care about your organization and want to provide effective
leadership, you need to hear other points of view.
There is always some risk involved in providing another
point of view to someone in position of power.
The person may feel threatened or offended and may choose to reject both
the idea and the messenger. The bottom
line is, “Do you want to work for an organization that won’t even consider
other options?” If not, find a place
where your creativity and initiative will be encouraged and rewarded.
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