If one is willing to look openly and honestly at their environment, be it personal or work, they cannot help but see reality. This, simply put, is the concept of ERR, the early recognition of reality. Choosing to recognize reality is a conscious process, a process the best leaders and managers employ so that they can adjust to the reality of their environment.
When we fail to employ the concept of early recognition of reality, we err. How do we err? By denial – "I am sure the numbers will look better next month, if we just work harder, faster!" By rationalization – "I know he has a poor attitude that affects the team, but it is impossible to find someone who can fix widgets. We can't afford to let him go". And frequently we allow emotional attachments to cause us to err – "He's been with the company since we started, I can't possibly let him go". It is not difficult to see the cost that will result from our failure to act on such realities.
The words, "Early Recognition of Reality" should be embroidered in a tapestry and hung on our office wall reminding us to look for those signals that tells us a change in direction or new course of action is required! Frequent reality checks would tell us what we've been doing isn't working and the sooner we stop going down the wrong path the sooner we will head down the right path. |
