“Being Right”

When we think we’re right, we stop listening.

When we think that you’re right we stop listening to the input from others. We become emotionally invested because we believe that we’re right; we even tend to talk to the choir and feel even more justified that we are right as select others agree with us.  

From this position we’re likely to push our own agenda. We start to sound like “I alone have the answers” and, if the rest don’t get on board, terrible things will happen.  The team will fail. The project won’t get funded.  The company will go under.  It all becomes very catastrophic as we buy into the idea that there is only one solution. When you hear yourself speaking in all or nothing terms it should cue you that you’re no longer thinking as constructively as normal.

The antidote is to get some perspective. Of course, there’s more than one way to do anything and everything, and more input leads to more well-developed solutions. And, if your position is causing conflict, ask - Is what you’re “right about” worth falling on your sword for? Then before you say “yes,” prove it to yourself. Write out the evidence for and against your belief. Doing this opens the aperture to consider other information and see the situation from different points of view. 

Being able to openly discuss, consider, and incorporate other peoples’ input into a solution increases buy in from other team members, as well as your credibility.