The dangers of dismissiveness

By Fiona Boyd |

Being dismissive seems to be a general trend at the moment – so many people in business have narrowed their focus so much that anything that does not fall within their plan, or mission is instantly dismissed.

As an entrepreneur a focused mind is a definite asset, however dismissing that which does not fit into your plans could mean that you miss out on a piece of information that could enhance and widen what you are doing and could give you a bigger perspective and a bigger market to play with.

The opposite to being an overly dismissive decision-maker is that of being easily distracted, which is also a definite danger in business.

I must put my hand up here and admit to David and I having been distracted many times during our Arts Hub adventure and going down paths that weren’t necessary and didn’t add to our business knowledge or expertise. But I would argue anyday that being dismissive of new information, ideas, people and thoughts is far more dangerous than being too easily seduced into the new.

So how then does a dismissive approach or attitude function in an entrepreneurial workplace and what effects does this have?

David and I in our consulting work and at Arts Hub tried our very best as owners and leaders to keep our minds open to ideas and opportunities and suggestions our staff had to offer. At times the offerings of our people were wonderfully valuable and useful to our business and at others they were just a distraction.

At other times we felt that our staff stepped beyond their roles and responsibilities in an inappropriate way and without taking the financial risk in the business, considered themselves owners and decision-makers. This is the downside of being open-minded leaders, those that work to you can often over-step their influence and it takes much patience to correct out-of-control perspectives.

Let me get one thing clear here – and for me this is important to do as David and I are about to set out on a new entrepreneurial venture in the next couple of months and I’d really like to refresh my mind as to what works and what doesn’t so that I can avoid us pursuing strategies and patterns that I know from past experience do not work and lead to negative outcomes.

Give some thought to whether you are being dismissive or looking for the nugget of value.

Employees to me should and can be treated with kindness and respect. It is entirely possible to design jobs that are interesting and make a difference in virtually any setting. However, the employee (unless they invest in the company, and then they are also a shareholder) does not own the company and does not have the individual right to determine its direction – that responsibility lies with the owners – however sometimes it is useful to collaborate and set some of the company’s future direction, together. As an employee you trade security and added benefits – salary, superannuation, paid leave, unpaid leave, sick days etc for total autonomy. That said, most jobs in my opinion, can be co-designed with the employee to create a level of autonomy that is empowering but doesn’t lead to delusions of rights that just aren’t there for that role.

Now where does dismissiveness fit in? Many companies still have within their confines, a competitive and political sub-culture that has the employees pitting themselves against each other, or indeed this is better, but also not great, the employees work as a team but everything outside the company is an enemy.

Isn’t it fascinating that so many people are unable to get motivated until they can define themselves and what they do in opposition to something else – to in fact, create an enemy to rail and work against? I prefer the approach of looking at what the competition does and seeing what they do well and better than us and thinking through whether this serves any lesson for us, or is it just a point of difference between us?

I know that many people I spoke with last year as the Global Financial Crisis weaved its way through the world and caught many of us up in its web (I’d argue we’ve all been affected in some way even if it’s not financial) that it was easiest just to shut down all new ideas, information and inputs and stick with what was known, even if the outcomes had never been terribly good in the past, at least the results were known.

Dismissiveness came to the fore and only the brave were likely to put forward a new idea or prospect in a public setting – everyone was focused around just getting by and surviving.

However, the GFC, like all economic crises of the past will pass at some point and we can no longer excuse our dismissiveness with the rational argument that the times require us to buckle down and stay away from the unknown.

In 2010 I’d like to give dismissiveness the boot. A new idea, new way of seeing, new person, new prospect, all present the opportunity of enhancing what we’re doing right now, and engaging with what’s there to be learned. It doesn’t mean we have to commit or go forward with the new input, however if we at least give it some contemplation and thought and don’t dismiss it out of hand, we will not make the mistake of dismissing a gem that might unlock the full potential of what we are pursuing in our businesses right now.

I wonder, what have you dear reader dismissed recently that could be worth another, more thoughtful look?

Photo: Flickr Envios

Over six weeks in 2009 Fiona Boyd and David Eedle wrote the book Niche Content Millionaire, which tells the tale of the lessons learned starting up, growing and then selling the online community business, Arts Hub.

Niche Content Millionaire is a downloadable eBook that tells you the true story how we made millions from subscription content and membership websites.

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