Don't let your own brain fool you!

I see it almost every day and at all hierarchical levels:

Someone doesn't behave the way we want them to, and we instantly discredit the entire person. Sometimes openly and directly, sometimes secretly and in confidential conversations with HR.

We fail to separate the two: that we are actually just dissatisfied with a specific behavior because it doesn't align with our own expectations or needs.

I find myself wondering and reflecting on maturity and professionalism time and again. Someone isn’t automatically a bad employee just because they show traits we don’t like. If we allow ourselves to think this way, here is what happens:

• We put those who think differently into a bad box.

• Our brain checks them off and gives up on them.

• We stop making an effort to understand them.

• We lose our curiosity and stop looking for common ground.

We close ourselves off and assume the problem lies entirely with the other person. Long-term, we just wait for the employee to leave or get promoted so we can be rid of "the problem." Let someone else deal with them.

But here is the thing: We are not at work to love and marry everyone there.

We are at work to contribute to the company's success. And success comes from diverse ways of thinking and working. Of course, these don't always align; sometimes they are completely counter to each other.

Only when you can hold this human tension and understand that it is exactly what is needed to live diversity and drive innovation, can you achieve true team success.

We are allowed to criticize behavior. We are allowed to disagree with other people. Different perspectives can exist in parallel without one of them automatically being wrong.

But the moment we start writing someone off entirely, we need to watch out and question our own limited way of thinking.