–Below is a leadership bullet from Tom’s rifle named Shot–
WHO DID IT? Who is holding the smoking gun? Who? Who? Well, as a mere rifle (a gun to some folk), I will tell you that guns don’t always tell the story and smoke, although an indicator, can be misleading. Besides holding the gun does not necessarily mean fault. Maybe someone else pulled the trigger, maybe the gun misfired, or maybe….Who knows???
For leaders Who? should not be the first question, as natural as that may be. Yes, it’s natural to look for someone to blame, but the more important questions are What went wrong? and Why did that occur? Who? is a distraction and may obscure the actual cause. The problem may arise again. The goal is to find the root cause. Maybe some person could have headed off the problem; maybe not. Maybe the best person to head off that problem in the future is the one you might be inclined to blame, and fire. Dismiss blame until the cause is found and a plan for the future is identified.
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