What if you’re the crazy one and they’re the sane ones?
Do you find yourself dealing with people who are (from your totally objective, if not god-like, point of view) making short-sighted or irrational decisions? What if their decisions come from where they stand in the organisation/world, rather than from some inherent flaw in their decision-making apparatus?
How to stop people from being so patently freakin’ crazy
1. Put yourself thoroughly in their position – think what information they receive in a timely way and what’s delayed or never reaches them, what they’re rewarded for doing/not doing, what’s visible/invisible to them… In short, work out how the (mad, stupid, loco) decisions they are making are the logical, rational ones to make.
1b If possible, verify your understanding of their situation with them. Find out what’s missing from your model of their model of the situation.
2. Work out what information is obvious to you in your position that they might be missing.
3. See if you can find a way of communicating that missing information to them in a way that is relevant to them.
4. Step back. Breathe. See if anything changes.
