Dealing with (Others') Opinions
A fact is information minus emotion. An opinion is information plus experience. Ignorance is an opinion lacking information and stupidity is an opinion that ignores a fact. (The Captain on Twitter).
We’re being bombarded by increasing numbers of opinions thanks to social media, so how do we as leaders deal with opinions without causing a meltdown? There’s abundant discussion on Facebook about respecting other people’s “opinions”; for example, not getting vaccinated against COVID because, in the person’s opinion, it’s dangerous.
Let’s apply the quote at the start of this article to this situation. Someone says that they shouldn’t be vaccinated. This is information (hopefully minus emotion) and so could be a fact. They then tell us that they have a history of DVT. Expert medical opinion (information + experience) suggests that certain vaccines are associated with increased risk of blood clots. If this person says they don’t want to be vaccinated with a vaccine associated with increased risk of blood clots, that opinion is backed by credible evidence that they may run increased risk. This is an opinion (information + experience). Question: if there’s another vaccine that isn’t associated with higher risk of blood clots, does that invalidate their opinion?
To state that people’s opinions must be respected because they are people’s opinions ignores the possibility that this may be ignorance (opinion lacking information) or worse, stupidity (opinion ignoring facts). To quote Professor Brian Cox, ‘The problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion and have others listen to it. The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion but, crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense!” What constitutes “demonstrable nonsense” is debatable, but ignorance (opinion - information) and/or stupidity (opinion ignoring fact) might count…
We can accept that others have different views based on both opinion or ignorance. We don’t have to agree with them, particularly if it turns out that they aren’t based on fact + experience or are patently based on ignorance or “stupidity”. The same applies to our own opinions.
Back to the vaccination example: some don’t want to be vaccinated because they’ve heard that healthcare workers have doubts. Is this opinion, ignorance or…? The questions to ask would be:
- Are these workers specialists in virology (or qualified doctors with virology/epidemiology expertise)? In other words, are they qualified to give an opinion based on information?
- On what facts (information - emotion) are their doubts based?
- Are there facts and opinions (from virology/epidemiology experts) that suggest these doubts may not be justified or justified only in certain circumstances?
There are healthcare workers who want to be vaccinated - their opinion is just as valid. We risk taking one opinion as more valid than another because it resonates with our views.
The facts suggest that the chances of dying from COVID are much lower for those who have been vaccinated.
I can accept that someone doesn’t want to be vaccinated - that’s their right. They must just accept that they may be barred from enjoying certain activities because others’ opinion is that they may pass COVID on to a vulnerable person who can’t be vaccinated because of other underlying issues.
The problem arises because different opinions can be based on different information + experience. How do we as leaders deal with this?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Leadership, Teamwork
Time to Recover?
With exceptions, much of the “developed” world is relaxing pandemic restrictions and returning to an “endemic” approach whereby COVID is treated as any other dose of ‘flu.
Recovery, however, is proving easier said than done. Many industries that rely on people to get things done (e.g., travel, hospitality) have found themselves short-staffed after laying off or furloughing staff at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Those staff have since found other jobs, started their own businesses, or simply decided to retire. Result? No staff right when they’re needed…
Many will be aware of the problems in the airline industry and at airports where there aren’t enough people to:
- Crew the planes
- Check passengers in
- Handle baggage
Hotels also are seeing insufficient numbers to look after guests, ironically just at the time when demand is soaring as restrictions are relaxed.
Clearly, business that need manpower and furloughed/retrenched staff during the pandemic (for understandable reasons) will not be quick to recover. Wherever online processes can be substituted for interpersonal action, this will happen. Other areas will take more time to return to “Business as Usual”. Some have found ways to do business with fewer employees (occasionally, to the detriment of service quality), but in general, it will be some time (if ever) before things can be considered truly “back to normal” in any sense of the word.
The situation in Ukraine isn’t helping either. Gas and food shortages are now prevalent, with one nation seemingly trying to hold the rest of the world hostage in order to achieve the dubious aims of a strongman.
Against this backdrop, contingency planning takes on a whole new dimension. Gone are the days when a five-year plan could be developed and occasionally “tweaked” during its lifetime. Now organisations will need to be far more agile in responding o crises that can erupt literally overnight. Teamwork and leadership will become more important, along with problem-solving, decision-making and the ability to implement change quickly and with minimal disruption to stakeholders.
Every business will need to approach this differently. The time for planning, though, is now.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Teamwork
Your Call Is Important...
Ever experienced a message like this: ‘Thank you for your email. This is an automated reply acknowledging the receipt of your email. We are currently experiencing high volume of enquiries’ or, when calling a Call Centre, an automated response along the lines of ‘We are currently experiencing a high volume than usual of calls which may result in long delays in answering your call’?
If so you’re not alone.
The underlining message is simply “We don’t have enough people to answer your email/query promptly”. The coronavirus epidemic saw this type of message grow as workers:
- Reported sick either because of catching COVID and having to isolate or having to care for a relative in the same position, or
- Had been furloughed/made redundant.
Again, the ‘COVID Catch-22 Conundrum’ struck. Organisations had to cut costs - often drastically - to survive. As face-to-face interactions were impossible due to social distancing, ”remote services” proliferated, with the attendant problems like those described at the beginning.
The great news for any business is that, if we can get our response service right DESPITE the restrictions imposed by COVID or any other event that means we can’t put people “on the ground”, we stand a good chance of taking business from the competition.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds. If an event has happened that forces people to stay at home (e.g. a pandemic), our business is likely to be in the same position as all the others. If we rely on having people to deal with other people, it seems pointless. Depending on our business, answers may include:
- Sourcing better quality goods to reduce the number of potential complaints about “quality issues”.
- Ensuring that those who purchase our goods/services are properly instructed on their use/delivery.
- Improving peoples’ ability to work from home, e.g., by enabling a mechanism to “switch” calls to designated external landline numbers or offering to pay part of their mobile bill.
- Ensuring that, where systems access is required for customer assistance/complaints staff, it is made available.
- Arranging for a courier service to collect/deliver faulty items from customers/to repair centres as part of our “contingency plans” (assuming, of course, that they don’t suffer from the same “staffing issues”).
None of these solutions are quick, easy or cheap to implement (although the development of technology has reduced the cost in many cases). I know one business which has now purchased laptops for all its advisory staff (they already have office mobiles).
“Remote services” of various kinds proliferated during the coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants adapted by opening huge kitchens in out-of-town areas and maintaining a fleet of delivery drivers to get food where it was needed. Then the delivery driver services decided to cut out the “end man” and operate kitchens themselves! Such are the “natural laws of business”…
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork
