As leaders, we spend a lot of time working with people who make mistakes. It's all part of the job. Often those mistakes are understandable. Perhaps the person didn't have the information they needed. Or they're still developing some skill. Etc. etc.
Much of the time, assuming we're in the right frame of mind, we can let it go.
And yet, sometimes we're beyond baffled. You did WHAT? our (hopefully) inner dialogue screams.
It's at times like this when we're in danger of reacting in a very judgmental way and destroying any psychological safety that we might have carefully built up. But judgement is just one of those rumble strips and isn't helpful most of the time.
Today I want to share one truth that has helped me handle these kind of situations more resourcefully in recent years:
People are always doing what makes most sense to them at their current level of understanding.
It might not make sense to you. But it did to them. At least in the moment.
So instead of judging and reacting, what would happen if you took a breath and got curious about what must have been true for that to have made most sense to them at the time?
If nothing else, it should enable you to respond resourcefully and things generally go much better as a result.
Can you remember a time when someone did something that caused you to react and judge? As you look back with curiosity, what might have made sense to them at the time? And how does it feel to know that now?
