Oct 30

Rushing to Judgment

Limbaugh v. Fox
In the past week or so Rush Limbaugh caused a stir by scoffing at Michael J. Fox. Limbaugh said Fox exaggerated his Parkinson’s disease symptoms in the advertisement Fox shot urging support for stem cell research.

Fox went to the news programs to further explain his position. On the program I watched, Limbaugh was invited to be a guest, too. He refused the invitation.

Okay, so these two guys are public figures and we shouldn’t pay too much attention to what they do. And yet, there is something very interesting in how Limbaugh responded to Fox’s advertisement; Limbaugh judged before learning more.

Limbaugh stated his opinions and judged Fox’s behavior before he asked any questions. Do you know anyone in your department who does that, too? Makes statements about what is “true” without asking a single question? Judges the motives of other workers/executives before talking with those people first to understand what those people claim their intended outcomes and motives to be?

Judgment v. Understanding
Here’s a personal example: My mother died a month ago. While the wake and funeral ceremonies and all the activities during that time brought together a great many family and friends we had not seen in a very long time, a couple people were noticeably absent. One of my family members was angry one woman in particular (we’ll call her Sally) did not show.

Sally was a friend to my mother for years. The two women hung out together. Sally helped out a lot when my mother was unable to get up and around. She helped my mother wash and eat and get dressed when her arthritis was completely debilitating. She arranged for ambulance support when she needed to get to a particular hospital. Sally was a good friend and my mother loved her dearly. So, it was surprising to not see her at the wake and funeral.

One family member said she was going to write a letter to Sally expressing how disappointed she was that Sally was not around to pay her last respects to my mother. From my family member’s tone of voice, the letter was going to be terse and pointed.

My question stopped my family member in her tracks: Do we know why Sally was not there? The answer was no; we did not know why Sally was not there.

So, if we didn’t know why she was there, how can we be sure our judgment of the situation and Sally was justified. Or, put another way…how can we be sure our judgment was fair and just? We couldn’t. And, if we did not know, we should not have attempted to come across as if we did know, not matter how much we wanted to blast her. To write that letter would have been to rush in like Rush Limbaugh.

Judgment’s Place
Judgment has its place. We get paid good money to exercise our judgment and make smart decisions about what projects to fund, what balance of quality and quantity to strike, how much to invest or who to invest in, and how to solve complex problems. Judgment surely has its place. My argument is that judgment’s place is behind understanding. And that means in many (!) cases, judgment should be held up before smart and inviting questions are asked.

We don’t know why Sally didn’t attend the wake or the funeral. At the time Rush Limbaugh took his jabs at Michael J. Fox, he did not know if Fox had or had not taken his medications and how and why he made the medication decision. Limbaugh did not know if Fox was intentionally exaggerating his Parkinson’s symptoms. Limbuagh just rushed in…no pun intended. He guessed Fox had tinkered with his meds for effect. But, Limbaugh did not truly know anything. He tried to sound authoritative as if he did. And he came off sounding like a bully. Limbaugh may have believed, surmised or intiuted…but he did not know. He made unilateral judgments that Fox was acting or exaggerating for effect…and presented them as facts.

Seek First to Understand
Please be careful not to rush to judgment too quickly at work, with your direct reports, your team, peers or superiors. Invest some time to ask questions first, listen and reflect. Then reflect some more. It’s a lot more effective, both interpersonally and productivity-wise, to build a conclusion up from many facts and refection than to pile-drive a judgment down based on opinion and little information. If you get it wrong, you will not only damage relationships (which will have a negative impact on productivity) you will damage your reputation, too. That’s an awful lot of downside for no lasting upside.

If you get it right, people will respect you more, feel safer and more confident working with you. They will likely be more eager to work with and follow you in the future.

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