When you’re the leader and someone brings you a complaint, a problem, an issue…it’s very likely this isn’t the first time they’ve thought about it.
And while they’re bringing it to you politely and respectfully…the day or the week before when the issue was raw they were really upset inside, it ruined an afternoon, they vented to a friend, considered speaking up, got afraid of speaking up, didn’t know what to say, hoped the problem would take care of itself. It didn’t. So the cycle repeats until now when it’s brought to you directly.
So don’t brush it off. Have the insight to know that speaking up is likely a culmination of lots of emotions, internal voices, fears, expectations and intentions.
Seeing this won’t necessarily help solve the problem but it will help give you the presence required to be effective in solving it.
