Common Sense?
The old joke goes “Common sense, isn’t that common”.
And now science supports it.
On a recent episode of CBC radio’s Quirks and Quarks show host Bob McDonald interviewed a researcher from the University of Pennsylvania who lead a study in which 2000 people were asked whether some points of knowledge were true, and whether they thought most people would agree. Their findings: “the team found that the larger the group, the less likely there was commonly shared knowledge, and no one age, educational or political group stood out as having more common sense than others”.
So much of what we do as leaders is rooted in fundamental beliefs and values we hold, often without careful examination. These are things we “hold to be self-evident” as the US Constitution states.
This all works fine until someone or something comes along that doesn’t agree.
When circumstances change, a disruptor arrives, or something causes us to reconsider what we once held certain things get tricky.
It comes down to our foundational values and beliefs. Those things we know deep down in our bones, the deep truths we turn to when we need roots and anchors.
In a less diverse, more stable generation we didn’t need to spend a lot of time looking at these things. It could be safely assumed that (almost) everyone just had the same core understanding of reality.
But not anymore.
Organizations need to invest some time in identifying, defining, and reviewing what fundamental truths are going to root their work. And they need to be deliberate about reminding themselves of what these are and why they’re important.
Another old joke is about assumptions: “When you assume you make an ass out of you and me”. Too many leaders are assuming that everyone holds the same values, and that those values won’t change.
That might work out just fine. But if it doesn’t, it gets really tough. I’ve been in the room when organizations find themselves deeply and painfully divided over things that many saw as common sense. It’s hard to recover and rare to do so without losing people, trust, and momentum.
Take an hour with your leadership team and review your organization’s values. Ask these questions:
Do these values represent reality as we understand it?
Who (within or outside our organization) might disagree with our values? Why?
What are we willing to do to maintain these values? What could it cost us?
Under what circumstances would we be open to changing any of them?
How are we ensuring that everything we do embodies these values, and what do we do when they are violated?
You might be surprised by what you discover.
Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.
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