The Elephant in the Room
We’ve all been in meetings where the audience is aware of a topic actively being avoided. I have always found that interesting – why would we not talk about what we all need to discuss? Well, it turns out that there are two main reasons:
- We are actively trying to avoid a topic either because we are ashamed, it’s too hard, or there is a culture of not talking about hard things.
- What we think is ‘the elephant in the room’ is only ‘the elephant in the room’ to us. To everyone else, it’s just a cute elephant stuffy.
Learning: Spending a few moments understanding why a topic is not being discussed can prevent you from accidentally sabotaging a meeting or your reputation. Conversely, it will provide you with the depth you need to ensure the topic can be addressed in the most productive way.