One thing that I’ve noticed gets in a lot of people’s way around professional relationships is the idea that a person is in a little categorized box. It’s true that our preconceived notions about a person can limit our interactions with them, creating unnecessary barriers in communication and understanding. What I mean by that is we all tend to judge each other one way or another.
The key takeaway from your words is to remain conscious of our own biases and judgments and strive for open-mindedness in our professional relationships. And whenever we land on someone being a certain way, all of a sudden we can’t interact with them in any other way than this category that we have put them inside of.
We’re limiting how we interact with this person because we’re limiting who this person is in our minds. By doing so, we can cultivate a more inclusive, empathetic environment that allows everyone to be seen as a unique, multifaceted individual rather than just the narrow idea we may have of them. So judging someone creates more than one problem.
This is particularly important for leaders and aspiring leaders, as they have the responsibility of setting the tone for their teams. It’s not just a problem for the person that we’re judging. Embracing openness and resisting the urge to categorize others can help promote a more innovative, collaborative atmosphere where everyone feels valued and respected.
Ultimately, your recommendations offer a path toward fostering deeper, more genuine connections within the workplace—an outcome that benefits both individuals and organizations alike. It also creates a problem for us, the person who’s doing the judging, because it limits the relationship that we can have with the other person.
So no matter where you are in your career or where you are in your organization, but especially if you’re a leader and especially if you are on track to be a leader, if you want to be a leader, I’m going to invite you to be careful about the judgments that you make around other people. Be conscious of it. At least recognize that when you decide that somebody is a certain way, you are limiting your options, your communication options with them.
The second thing I’d like to invite you to do is once you do recognize that you are judging someone else, see if you can put aside the judgment and return to an openness about who this person could be and how this person could respond to you. If you put aside your judgment and attempt to connect with this person, not like they are the idea of who you think they are, but like they are a complete, unfettered human being, I suspect you’re going to have a more human, a more whole, a more healthy interaction with them.
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