Several years ago, I was sitting in a parent meeting for the upcoming high school basketball season. The head coach talked about policies, travel, schedules and so forth and then the athletic director spoke. He pleaded with parents to follow what he called the "24 Hour Rule."
"Whenever you have a gripe with a coach about lack of playing time, the position your son is playing or anything else, don't approach him right after the game," he said. "If you do, the coach may act in a way he shouldn't, which may cause you to act in a way you shouldn't."
He suggested instead that parents wait 24 hours. This gives them the chance to sleep on the problem, clearly think about the problem and then deal with it in a more levelheaded way if necessary. This suggested rule gives you time to separate your emotion from the situation so you can instead come from a heartfelt desire to understand; not immediately condemn.
The "24 Hour Rule" can work in many situations like waiting to send off an email that you will later regret, taking a time-out in the middle of a meeting to collect yourself before you blow up or waiting before you talk to an employee who made a huge frustrating mistake. It might only take you an hour or less to think things through, not 24 hours, it just needs to be long enough to try to understand and cool off and not say or do something you regret.
What do you do to prevent yourself from sending that email you are going to regret? Or to prevent saying something you shouldn't say at that moment? Use the 24-Hour Rule. I am glad I have :-)
See blast from the past blog post below on the cost of swearing in your leadership.
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