Sweet little lies


Hey Reader! 👋 I know you're gonna relate to this one.

It's Friday afternoon, and I'm checking my inbox one final time before I tap out for the weekend.
There's a new email from the Ohio Safety Congress: Your OSC26® Session Evaluations Are Now Available.
This is the speaker equivalent of receiving your annual performance review.
I'm about to hear how the 25 attendees in my 3-hour workshop on harnessing conflict rated my work.
The first thing I'm presented with is the numbers. It's the standard 5-point Likert scale.
Everything is agree or strongly agree except for one rating of neutral.
My hyper-achiever is concerned, "Why isn't everyone saying strongly agree?"
My inner sage kicks in with curiosity, "Hmm, I wonder where I missed the mark?"
At the bottom of the report are two open-ended questions. Here's what they said:

Reader, I was sooo pleasantly surprised.

I was thinking I had disappointed this audience and that they expected more from me.

I learned that I was making the wrong assumptions about what a simple "agree" rating meant.

I actually did a fabulous job, and I would have told myself a much different story had I not read the comments.

Reader, the truth is my inner perfectionist is strong.

She thinks that she is helpful when she pushes me to accept nothing less than flawless.

It's a lie that I've been battling for years.

And in our KPI-centric business culture, it is easy for her to run amok, making mountains of unworthiness out of mole hills of good enough.

So this week, I offer you these two questions:

  1. Are you giving people the full context, or just the top-line number? Don't assume the true meaning and impact you intend will be present.
  2. Are you making erroneous assumptions because you aren't "reading the comments"?

P.S.

If you're curious about this workshop and why it would have benefited more OSC26 attendees, I'm happy to share the details and explore bringing this to your leaders. Hit reply, and we can schedule a chat.

Have an awesome week!

Rita Ernst, Positivity Influencer

My weekly emails are for you if you want a transformational SHOT OF POSITIVITY that makes you think, gets you laughing, and sparks a positive change. Start each week inspired.

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