Meridian Coaching & Consulting Blog

With the economy being what it is today, there is a lot of “choosing” going on.  Some of the choices are easier than others.  For example, people making choices about where to economize –what to give up and what to keep.  It is sometimes painful to cut back but the choice is yours and that makes it easier.

The other “choices” being made, are out of our hands and that can make us feel helpless.  Some companies have made the decision to cut back and they are ‘choosing’ who to let go.  Still other companies are growing and adding new staff.  They get to ‘choose’ among a richer field of candidates than has been available in the recent past.  The transparency of these “choices”, is not always clear.  The company can set guidelines, they create job descriptions and minimum qualifications but the bottom line is that these institutional guidelines don’t really make the choices transparent.

Transparency is more personal than that.  As the person making the “choices” it is important to remember that transparency is in the eye of the beholder – the same way that, in communication, meaning lies with the listener.

The best thing the “choosers” can do is to start from a position of transparent knowing (shared knowing) that is coupled with an ability to clearly communicate that knowing/need and the power to act on it.  All three components – knowing, communicating your need and the ability to take action to meet your need – are critical to transparency.  If any of those three are missing, it leaves the object of the choice – wondering why me or why not me?  And the thing that the “choosers” should never forget is that their choices have an impact on others and your level of transparency in the process always affects someone else.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou