Be Direct and Talk About the Elephants in the Room

One of my favorite business cartoons shows a man presenting a chart on which the line graphing his project’s progress starts in the middle, climbs a bit, and then falls dramatically.  The caption is a question from one of the men being presented to:  “Would you please elaborate on ‘then something bad happened’?”

Change agents much always ask, “What am I not seeing?

Don’t feel uncomfortable—it’s your job to cause tension and to ask and answer the hardest questions to solve the problems now and prevent them in the future.

Find the biggest sticking points, and lay bare the biggest holes and important topics so nothing is missed or left unsaid and unaddressed.  Don’t cover up!  Tell your team to raise their hands and say something.  Tell them to be forceful and direct.  Be honest.  Tell them it is a risk and they might get trampled initially, but they are not trying to win popularity contests.

In the end they will come out unscathed.  It’s better than an “I told you so” and a bunch of finger-pointing and blame down the road.