You choose what you do with information

I had a chat the other day with a person, we'll call him Doug, who I considered influential in a business sense. Doug had one of the most senior leadership roles in the organisation that employed him, let's call it Widget Pty Ltd.  This means Doug directed, lead, influenced, motivated, and guided the people in Widget Pty Ltd.

In the know about business

What Doug also had was the privilege of receiving information that others in Widget Pty Ltd might not see. This information would include financial data, personnel data, news and inside information about Widget Pty Ltd.'s industry.

What struck me the most was the amount of power evident in the control and use of information available to a person of such a high position in a company.

In the know about himself

What Doug also had was information on himself.  I was in fact in the privileged situation of facilitating the conversation about his 360 degree feedback. Only Doug, I and the company that processed the profile had this information.  In my role I am ethically bound to keep this information confidential, and I hold this responsibility highest on my list of duty of care to my clients.  Yet I also have the responsibility to encourage, inspire and motivate such a person to take action upon receiving feedback results.

Getting straight to the point

So my comment to Doug that I share with you today is...

"You choose what you do with results and feedback. Therefore you choose the impact that you have on the company as it's leader. You are ultimately the one person responsible for your own behaviour, no one else."

My point is that if a leader is not committed and strong enough to do something about information on him/herself, how can you expect him/her to take information he/she receives about the company seriously enough to really do something to change things for the better.

Over to you

So what do you do with information you receive about yourself? Do you sit on it, pretend you don't know, hide the data or use this insight as motivation to action for change in the way you lead others.  Think about it. I know that Doug now does.

Let's go there...

Jenn