Page 80 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

whether or not two people agree becomes the primary topic of their
conversation and overshadows the original topic of discussion and all
the preparations they made. Consider this simple dialogue between
two managers:

ANN: Thank you, Gina, for sharing one of your team members for
the past eight weeks to support the systems improvement project
I’m leading. It looks like we’re going to need him for one more
week to fi nish things out. My understanding from our original
plan was that this amount of overrun wouldn’t be a problem,
but I wanted to confi rm that with you now.
GINA: As you know, I’ve always had my doubts about that project.
I agree with the need, but are you sure we’re taking the right
approach?
ANN: Well, I can understand your doubts, but our research supports
the conclusions we’ve drawn and the direction we’re taking.
GINA: I heard about that research, but I don’t know that it included
an appropriate sample of information.
ANN: We were careful to include multiple population samples. Let
me list them for you . . .

And so on.
Is there anything wrong with this exchange? Perhaps not. Ann
opens with a statement of her current understanding of the answer
to her question and an invitation to edit it. Gina expresses what may
be appropriate related questions. Ann appears to have the answers
and is willing to share them. This might turn out to be an interesting
conversation. The chance to share information may produce better
alignment between the two managers and even serve to improve the
trust between them on a personal level.
On the other hand, this may also be a rehash of an old argument.
Perhaps Ann and Gina have a long-standing disagreement regarding
this project, and today’s conversation is just the next in a series of
endless debates. Or perhaps either or both are busy with other priori-
ties and simply don’t have the time for this extended conversation.

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