Had an epiphany/d-uh moment over the weekend after accumulation of numerous rejected improvement recommendations at work:
Arguments are won with the heart, not facts.
I've always regarded the pursuit of knowledge, information, truth, and consideration of the bigger picture as fundamental, and assumed most people would share that interest in continuous self-/improvement.
Unfortunately, (most of) the rest of the world doesn't seem to work like that. Usually, the rest of the world (at least part of my work environment) seems to value collaboration and conventionalism in general. Relevance of any supporting facts presented is generally not (well?) understood, and many openly revel in being able to point out your errors and discredit you. It can become a competition of show-uppance. It's also very difficult for someone to accuse you of not being kind and considerate, regardless how mistaken their direction.
Looking past the probable negative outcomes of people's intentions and effectively reguiding their efforts is an ability I clearly have yet to learn to fake, never mind develop.
2 comments:
Come work for us. One of our guiding principles is, "Make disciplined decisions using facts, analytics and quantitative metrics."
:-)
We're hiring in WNT (near us) or VEN (near your relatives).
@eNVy: yer sweet. :)
UPDATE: today I found out that the recent rejection of one of my recommendations was overturned by his director. now please excuse me a minute while I secretly revel.
Ok glad that's out of my system, so I can concentrate on more important stuff, like keeping this program together and on schedule thus helping prevent our minister from breaking a (somewhat half-baked) piece of legislation and going to jail.
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