By Daniel Bobinski
Listening is definitely a learned skill, and people who master it tend to do better in life. But an equally valuable skill, especially for managers and leaders, is evaluating. Just like we say, “Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet,” another useful axiom is “Don’t believe everything you hear.”
In education, evaluating is considered a higher order thinking skill. The cognitive skills considered to be fundamental are remembering, understanding and applying, whereas the higher order skills are analyzing, evaluating and creating.
Synonyms for evaluating include appraising, judging, critiquing and weighing, and the better one can perform these skills, the more likely one is likely to make good decisions.
Pitfalls of not evaluating well
Multiple reasons exist for why people don’t want to evaluate things they’re told. Maybe they’re too busy or they work under too many deadlines. Maybe they fear that what they discover will lead to disappointment or other people feeling uncomfortable. Maybe a person could lose some money. Whatever the reason, if people fail to evaluate and thus make bad decisions, the result is practically guaranteed to involve discomfort and disappointment.
Consider the following true story (names have been changed to protect the innocent – and the guilty).
Sarah was working as a vice president of sales for a company in the Northwest. Her tenure in the industry was well-known and because her team always produced good results, her CEO was fine with Sarah doing consulting work on the side.
In early 2020, about the same time that COVID-19 arrived on the scene, Sarah’s CEO told Sarah she’d need to cut her sales team by 20 percent. Sarah did not want to do this, as she and her husband were well off, and anyone she let go would have a difficult time finding work.
Sarah told her CEO that instead of cutting people from her sales team, she herself would step down. Besides, one of the companies that had been using her as a consultant had been whispering that they would love for Sarah to come work for them.
And so, a deal was struck. Sarah would resign so that everyone on their sales team could keep their jobs, and then she would work for the company that was courting her. Sarah didn’t want to call attention to the arrangement, so the only people who knew what was going on were Sarah, her CEO and the HR manager.
Ironically, COVID lockdowns were put in place the same week that decision was made, and everyone in Sarah’s company was told to work from home. The only people allowed into the building were those who worked the help desk, the CEO and, of course, HR.
The HR manager, Clarise, was good friends with Sarah, and since Sarah would no longer be employed there, Clarise offered to box up her personal items and bring them to her, which is exactly what happened.
A few weeks later, Sarah started working for her new company. She was looking forward to vibrant synergy with her new co-workers, because that’s the vibe she experienced there when working as a consultant. She got along with everybody.
Strangely, during her first week on the job, Sarah could tell something was wrong. Instead of vibrant synergy, some people were keeping their distance. Curious as to why this was, Sarah approached her new CEO and brought up the matter. His response? “Don’t worry about it. It was something we learned about your past, and I really don’t want to rehash the past. It’s over and done. You’re here now, so let’s get things going here.”
Because some people remained leery of Sarah, she brought up the matter to the CEO several more times over the ensuing months. But each time her new CEO said the past was the past and he didn’t want to rehash it.
The truth comes to light
It was almost a year into Sarah’s time with her new company that she finally learned the story that nobody wanted to discuss. Peter was another vice president there, and he got to talking with Sarah at their company’s annual retreat. In a sidebar conversation by the lake, Peter let down his guard enough to say, “I’m sure things would be going smoother for you here if you hadn’t been fired from your last job.”
Sarah’s eyebrows shot up. “Fired? I wasn’t fired.”
“That’s not what we were told,” said Peter. “I know the guy who runs the help desk there. He told me all about how you were fired and escorted directly out of the building … that the HR manager had to pack up your desk and bring your personal items to you outside – because you weren’t allowed back into the building.”
Sarah was stunned. None of that was true. In her mind, she played back the events.
She unselfishly gave up her own job so that the people on her sales team could continue to feed their families and pay their mortgages.
Clarise did Sarah a favor by saving her a 40-mile drive and delivered her belongings.
The guy at the help desk saw Clarise packing up Sarah’s things and taking them out of the building. It was purely a guess on his part that Sarah had been fired. It wasn’t true, but that’s what he thought.
As Sarah thought it through, she realized that Peter was not guilty of lying. However, he was guilty of not evaluating what he was told. The same was true about her CEO. The price? A greatly reduced sense of comradery and definitely lower levels of productivity.
None of what happened was necessary. However, gossip, conjecture and misunderstanding combined with a lack of curiosity and analysis damaged both a company and a career.
It leads us back to that wise saying; don’t believe everything you hear. A little analysis and evaluation, which would have required only a phone call or two on the part of Peter or the CEO, would have changed so many things.
In closing, it would be wise to remember that evaluating is a learned skill, and those who master it tend to do better in life.
Daniel Bobinski, who has a doctorate in theology, is a best-selling author and a popular speaker at conferences and retreats. For more than 30 years he’s been working with teams and individuals (1:1 coaching) to help them achieve excellence. He was also teaching Emotional Intelligence since before it was a thing. Reach him by email at DanielBobinski@protonmail.com or 208-375-7606.
