FRI: “Consider the Opposite”

As a business owner, I have two options when considering customer feedback. The first is to seek out only what I project onto how I believe the gym should be viewed. We are successful. We have many members and have been in business for seven years. There is nothing wrong and I do not need to fix anything. So, I look for information that confirms this belief. I hunt down rave reviews with a, “See, nothing is wrong here.”

Tempting.

The second option I have is to seek information that does not confirm my bias. Of twenty reviews that we might receive, nineteen of them are usually highly positive. While I always enjoy and appreciate them, I do not learn anything about how we can better operate. Reading them places me in no personal discomfort and I am not required to confront any uncomfortable truths.

A few months back, we received one of the most over the top and absurd customer emails in our seven years. It was from a member who applied to be a coach here, and I can only guess that in his wake of not being hired, he decided to lash out. His email was littered with absurd accusations and observations that I cannot imagine how he convinced himself were true. Of his nine paragraphs, eight were easily dismissed from years of counter evidence. However, in one of his paragraphs he made two points that I found myself unable to disagree with. At this point, I could have either used my confirming bias to discount his valid points. After all, the rest of it was illogical and delusional so the rest of it should be guilty by association, right?

Maybe. Probably. This would be the easy route, but knowing that it would not result in a net positive, I elected to put that confirming bias aside and seek out the disconfirming information. It was not comfortable, it was not fun, but amidst his five hundred word non-nonsensical, borderline crazy person ramble, there was improvement to be had. However small it might be.

Ask your trusted team members to poke holes in your thought process. Ask questions in your culture that run counter to the norm. Ask your boss why most employees leave.

Six years ago, there is no way I would have the maturity to seek out the disconfirming information. It takes time and practice, but it gets you place that confirming information does not. If you are highly successful in something and think you have it all figured out, consider the opposite. Consider that you don’t. Look for disconfirming information. There’s always a better way. There’s always a time and place to check yourself responsibly without overreaction.

Those who live off a steady IV drip of confirming information are the ones who never adapt.

-Dave

For More: Decisive, by the Heath Brothers

Friday, 4.20.18

First, for Structure.
Complete 5 Heavy Rope Pulls and Return Drags in 25 Minutes.
—
Then, in Groups of 4.
A: 30″ Bike Sprint
B – D: Rest
(x14 Min)