Receptive & Fair

Domain: Managing Others - Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

People are more willing to come to you with problems, questions, challenges if they know they are going to be heard and treated fairly as a result. That’s why these two concepts go hand-in-hand. It’s not enough to be receptive to information if you are going to act unfairly once you get it. On the other end, if you are not receptive to feedback/questions/perspectives you are likely not going to be seen as a fair and democratic leader. Here are just a few methods for developing how you are perceived in regards to these competencies…

Be honest with yourself

We’ve all had or known a manager who claims that they are open to feedback and credible challenges but proves otherwise when the situation arises. If you say one thing and do another, your team will quickly catch-on and they will tell you only what they think you want to hear. This stunts growth for everyone involved. When you catch yourself feeling defensive, use it as a cue to actively listening to the information that is being presented.

Cognitive diversity

The power of diverse teams is that people of different backgrounds and experiences will come-up with different solutions. It would be arrogant to think that any of us are always the smartest or most effective person on the team in every situation. Speak less and let others flourish. As someone who loves to contribute to conversations, I have a post-it that reminds me to "speak less, speak last".

Let them execute

If someone on your team has an idea or solution to a problem, let them run with it. Even if it’s not how you would address the issue, as long as you are confident that their idea won’t cause significant harm, let them try it their way. Having the opportunity to implement their own recommendations will only increase their engagement.

If (and likely when) the solution goes well, you have a great opportunity to recognize the individual. If it doesn't go well, you can still demonstrate good will by taking responsibility for the outcome. This is what great leaders do, give credit and take blame.

If you need to say no

On the same note, being receptive and fair does not mean you have to agree or acquiesce to everything. It’s more about being open to having a discussion on the various view-points. This may seem like a contradiction to the last point, but it really depends on the context and risk. If there is no significant risk, have them operate with autonomy. If their idea presents serious risk or is not feasible, have a discussion about that before you use your authority to simply veto them. This is learning how to say “no” in a collaborative and development-focused way.

Assume they’re right

Put your ego and title (and ego about your title) aside. If you are presented with feedback or a challenge that you didn’t expect, don’t become automatically defensive. As long as the feedback was presented professionally, try to move forward in a dialogue with the assumption that their insight does have merit. It can help to develop the habit of assuming the feedback is valid/accurate before getting defensive. This can be accomplished simply by saying to yourself "let me stop for a moment and assume this is true. What else do I need to understand about the situation?"

Thank you for reading. My hope is always that you've found something helpful and easy to implement.