When things go wrong, or when something is said or done that falls into the category called “Bullshit”, what do you do? Do you keep quiet, do you ignore it, or do you call “BULLSHIT!”?
We go to work every day and we expect our people to behave exactly like we expect them to in our minds. Unfortunately, your team or peers will not magically know what the correct way to act is if you don’t tell them. So, when your team members or peers do something that goes against either what you believe to be right, don’t ignore it and keep quiet.
While keeping quiet might feel like the easier thing to do, and also save you the outright confrontation, people will carry on behaving in the incorrect manner and nothing will change. You need to call it as it happens, work through the uncomfortable situation and move forward, if not your team or peers will just carry on regardless.
What about if someone throws you under the proverbial bus in a work situation, what do you do? Say thank you for tarnishing my reputation, or do you stand up and call that shit out?
What if your team members don’t really care much for the quality of work they are delivering to your client? What do you do about it, do you wait for them to somehow via osmosis figure out that they are delivering sub-standard work, or do you CALL IT!
Calling the Bullshit is crucial if we want to exact change in our organisations. If we do not call it, we are as guilty as the people who are causing it. If each one of us can call it, we will create a sub culture of honesty within our teams which in turn will increase positive communication and affect the overall delivery to our clients.
Now let’s start calling the bullshit outside of our organisations, and perhaps when engaging with our clients, would that not be a refreshing change? What would your clients prefer? In my own opinion if I was a client, I would appreciate it if my supplier called the bullshit, how much easier would business engagements be if I could in turn call it with my suppliers.
This is a very left field ideological viewpoint on my part but give it a try in your own organisation and start calling the bullshit when you see it, and see how it affects the team, your client, the suppliers and your organisation.
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