The Manager 160 - Assume positive intent
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"The Manager" Newsletter
Hi,
I hope you are doing safe and well and looking forward to a new week.
I must apologise in advance. I have had zero time this week to read anything. It's been unrealistically busy. With 14 hour work days, kids, house stuff and not feeling well, it's been a week I wouldn't wish on anyone else.
So, as I sit here at 6:36 am with a 7:30 am deadline, I will be up front and let you know a portion of this newsletter will recycle a post I put out on LinkedIn this week! The other piece I will write now. :) But there will be no interesting links for this week...because I simply haven't read anything! Sorry. Normal service will resume with cool links next week.
I'm speaking at the HUSTEF conference in a couple of weeks (remote) and am working on a potential in-person conference in Norway, hopefully.....can't wait to get back to in-person, but it's also a little daunting. Flights, hotels, people.
Speaking of conferences. I find it pretty incredible how many people are speaking about psychology and related subjects at conferences now-a-days. Even more remarkable given that these people often aren't trained in it. Even more remarkable than that, if it's possible, is that these talks aren't about "something interesting I discovered in psychology", they are often "here's how to deal with X, Y, Z based on psychology".
I wouldn't mind the advice type talk if it came from someone who'd deeply studied psychology.
At one event last year, a well known agile speaker talked about the psychology of agile teams. But this speaker had simply read a book on psychology and completed a two-week online course in "understanding psychology". They were now stood on stage giving advice on why people think what they do and what to do about it. They even told the audience that they had studied this....but a two week online course is not the same as being an expert in something.
Be careful here.
Even fully qualified and trained psychologists don't know why people are doing what they do or how they think. And an unqualified conference speaker working in agile should not be offering "psychological" advice from the stage.
Yet every conference has them - people who've read a book and are suddenly armchair psychologists. There's a lot to be learned in this area and studying it is a brilliant thing, just be careful how much of it makes it's way into the workplace or as advice from the stage.
Here's what I know:
I have no idea what someone is feeling or thinking. But I can observe their behaviours. But I must be careful here too. I will judge (even though I like to think I wouldn't). I will assume (and likely be wrong).
So, I'm always very careful to study and observe behaviours and then assume positive intent.
This way I don't fall into the trap of believing/assuming/knowing what they are thinking. I will leave that for the professionals who've studied for years and practiced it under license. And if you ever see me on stage talking about how people feel and think and psychology (and I'm not qualified) let me know asap. In fact, "boo" me and tell me to go away.
Wearing my HR hat here now (btw - did I tell you I passed the CIPD Level 5 diploma? See this post here.), we need to be really careful in this area of work. It can lead to serious problems if we start assuming we know how people feel and what is going through their minds. It can be disastrous if we start dishing out counselling, psycho-babble and more, without the rigour, expertise, frameworks and licensed support needed.
Simple steps to avoid this:
1. Focus only on behaviours (what people do, what they say, how they say it, body language and work output). (Hat tip to manager-tools.com)
2. Assume positive intent until proven otherwise (as in, people aren't doing this on purpose or for malicious reasons)
3. Leave the armchair psychology in the workplace for those who are qualified.
4. If people need support and help emotionally, then pull on the HR services provided..leave it to the professionals
5. Don't offer psychological advice unless you're trained in it :)
Rhetoric
Apologies to those who follow me on LinkedIn and have seen this advice already, but it did well and I figured it would be helpful for The Manager readers.
CONFERENCE speaking is hard, but when I discovered the classics of rhetoric it took my talks to a new level. (and my arguments at work).
Take the concept of "epicheirema" for instance.
It's:
1. A claim is made (opening of talk)
2. A reason for the claim (why the audience should care about it)
3. Proof of reason (the outlining of why this is a problem/opportunity/important)
4. Embellishment (the details, the stories, the idea, the solutions or options)
5. Restatement of the claim (closing with why it's a problem and why your solution is good)
The modern version by Toulman is similar:
1. Claim
2. Data
3. Warrant
4. Backing
5. Rebuttal (dealing with challenges)
6. Qualifier
It's the basics of a good argument or talk.
Don't forget to add:
* Decorum - appropriate delivery and style (don't be too rigid here - don't be too inappropriate)
* Ethos - your character communicated through speech
* Logos - A solid, well-thought through, argument
* Pathos - Emotions of your audience (remember, the listener does the communication and emotions are how people remember)
Rhetoric has a bad name, but done carefully it's a way of presenting a logical argument well.
Remember to think through objections carefully and deal with them in your talk. Always think about your audience. Use emotions carefully. Stories go where facts cannot. And how you present it makes a massive difference.
With that, good luck as we enter the conference season submissions for next year. Back in-person seems to be the goal for many conferences. Maybe I'll see you at some of them next year.
--
As mentioned - no interesting articles of the week.
I hope you have a great week. I am going to head out to the Lambert Gym (in my YouTube shed) - and also on that point, I will be releasing a new video to my channel. An off-topic video on turning my old shed into a (temporary) YouTube studio.
Rob..
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Rob..