5 Reasons It’s Better To Know
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Mar 2, 2012
Being a leader is hard. Being in a relationship is hard. No matter how good things go, every once in awhile things may not go as you hope.
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One of those things I've seen is that people will avoid talking about the problem because they really don't want to know. It's hard to explore things when they're not going well. It can be depressing and stressful. It may require an action.
I'm not all that much different. I have my periods where I avoid the necessary thing, such as marketing phone calls. I absolutely hate them, and would rather write another blog post. But I know it has to get done here and there; I have to survive, and y'all aren't really ringing the phones off the hook on your own. With that, I want to give you 5 reasons why it's better to know rather than not know what's going on.
1. Often it's not as bad as your mind makes it out to be. Have you ever had that really crucial phone call to make and you worried about it for days, and then you finally waited until the last minute and made the call? Just how bad was that call anyway? Unless you have to tell someone that their family member has passed away no call that involves you can be all that terrible. Even if it's a call telling someone that you need to make a break, as bad as that will be it's now done and you can move on.
2. That sense of relief once you know. It's a strange thing but when you know there's something you're going to have to do and eventually do it, all the pressure's off. You might not always feel good about what you did but if you know you did the right thing for yourself or someone else you'll start feeling better sooner.
3. You can't fix what you won't acknowledge. Dr. Phil says this one all the time and he's right. If you have problems that need addressing, you can't do anything about them if you're not real with yourself. By the same token, others can't start helping you address your issues, or you addressing their issues, until each side knows what's going on.
4. If it's bad after you told it, things were probably bad beforehand as well. Sometimes we already know what's going on, and we hold out hope for something better to happen. Every once in awhile things do improve and you realize you were fretting for no reason. But at those other times, when it really is bad, you were just holding on for hope, and there's never any control over hope.
5. More time to heal, or to get ready for the inevitable. Wouldn't you want to know that a loved one or good friend was critically ill so you could try to spend some time with them? Wouldn't you want to know if something was wrong with you that could possible be corrected? Wouldn't you want to know that there was a source to help you with money issues to ease your mind sooner than later? Time is better spent dealing with reality than worrying about what might be.
To be a leader requires a lot, I not mean to be just a capable leader, but to be a good one. I think the hardest part is to find the balance between relationship and work, to have a spine and to be nice, etc. Once in my career, I nearly jeopardize my position, because of personal problem, not because the work of my team was not going well, but because everybody felt that I am playing a bit more on the safe side as usual.
That can be interesting to deal with Carl. Most companies like employees that play it safe for the most part, unless things are out of sorts.
I personally don’t think that playing safe is the right strategy, leading companies never play safe when it is about taking decisions, generally small businesses also take advantage of this freedom and usually are showing more creativity, just because more ideas and actions may occur, do you think so?
Carl, I think it depends on what level of management you’re at. If you’re at a support level then yes, playing it safe is the way to go. If you’re R&D or a game changer, then playing it safe will stagnate the company.