We only see what we want to see

And we only hear what we want to hear, because it suits us – it’s easily done but aren’t all mistakes.

Very often in looking for an answer we focus on everything that confirms that answer because it’s easier, quicker, and less challenging but the answer you had in mind might not be the right answer for the situation. And it’s even harder if you have to let go of your trusted ways of doing things that have been developed over the years, perhaps over the generations, but are no longer having the impact they had 5, 10, or 15 years ago.

Without the advantage of perspective and the willingness to watch and listen, we can become quite myopic – the personal challenge is to see what you can, and hear what you can, question what you see, and question what you hear, including your own motives and decision drivers – which are often framed by our own emotions and to do that you have to ‘get out more’ aka CPD, networking, conferences and mentoring.

Without this commitment your decisions can have quite a devastating impact on individuals, projects, and organisations.

Consider the following 3 scenarios:

1. People – Staff Appraisals

When seeking performance feedback from peers on a member of the team, the ill thought through comment driven by a lack of time, consideration and understanding or even personal agenda could shape and form a perception that could take on a life of its own, especially if the originator of the comment was one of influence or position – as we know perception is fact. It could be a negative or a positive perception of an individual that could wrongly result in them being overlooked for promotion or over promoted.

• Product – Project Research

Which is at times wrongly signed off to support the decision and dependent on how far down the timeline the “decision” is, determines the level of resistance to change.

As a young Product Manager I was working on a launch that was running late and when my boss asked to see the target audience feedback on the point of sale, I had to buy time, divert budget and hastily organise focus groups – I was guilty of seeing what I wanted to see / be seen (Hey Ho the arrogance/confidence/inexperience of youth).The initial disappointment from what I heard, saw and read soon turned to gratitude as it led me to significantly change the imagery, which I believed significantly changed the sales.

• Process – Organisational Mergers and Acquisitions

Often fail to get across the line or go down to the eleventh hour for reasons that with hindsight appear so ridiculously insignificant. I was involved with one acquisition which didn’t get across the line despite completing all the necessary due diligence and box ticking. Some years later I saw the Group FD who was involved at the time and asked him why it hadn’t happened – amazingly it came down to him being “too busy”.

No matter what role you have in your organisation you have a responsibility and an accountability to question what you see and question what you hear, including your own motives and decision drivers, without this commitment your decisions can have quite a devastating impact on your People, Product, Process.