Communication Philosophy for Leaders – Take The Time to Differentiate Fact From Fiction

By Evan Hackel

Have you noticed that really accomplished leaders are usually slow to arrive at rigid opinions?  When a crisis comes and they need to make a rapid decision, they can do so. But at other times, they seem to prefer to go on gathering information and trying to reconcile a number of viewpoints in order to arrive at the most informed overview of the challenges and issues they are facing.

Yet have you also noticed that we are living in a time when many people seem to believe that opinions represent wisdom? They express their opinions as if they were facts and seem not to know the difference. Some people do so unknowingly, others intentionally. We hear politicians do it. It has also become commonplace on talk radio and television news.

The Communication Hazards of Presenting Opinions as Facts

When people speak with any level of passion or conviction, they often speak as though what they are saying is a fact. In reality, much of what people try to pass off as facts is simply an opinion. And when people state an opinion as a fact, their audience is prone to either reject it at once or believe it to be a fact and react to it in a certain way. Most often, the conversation either ends or never gets to the point of addressing real issues.

You might hear someone in your organization say, for example, “You cannot bring that product to market by early next year because of A, B, and C.” That person is stating opinions as though they were facts and if you disagree, you look like you are calling him or her unintelligent, a liar, or worse.  Yet even though it requires tact, you need to investigate and become as certain as you can that what you are considering are not just opinions, but the reality of what is taking place.

Similarly, it is important to refrain from stating your own opinions as indisputable truths. For example, if you are the person who says, “We just won’t be ready to expand operations into new regions of the country until late next year,” then you have limited the scope of ideas that other people can suggest. But is what you have said really true, or just an opinion that even you could disprove? If that is the case, the advice you receive will probably not have great merit, because the other person, acting reactively, will not base his or her advice on a wider comprehensive understanding of what the situation really is.

Now, it’s not realistic to think you can do this with absolutely everything that comes across your desk or in every conversation. Time limitations and pressures often will keep you from probing on a deep level into what you are hearing. And you do not need to do so all the time – not when you are dealing with low-priority issues or activities, for example. But you certainly should do it when you are dealing with serious or deep issues. That’s where you’ll want to dig deeper – to look at every angle to get to the real facts.

When you get there, you’ll realize a significant improvement in business. Fact or opinion? You decide.

Communications skills that help differentiate opinions from facts . . .

• Ask other people, “Is what you are saying a fact or an opinion?” This strategy encourages others to be more alert to situations in which they are tempted to offer their opinions as facts.

• Get into the habit of looking for facts. If someone says, “Our new price increases are killing sales,” for example, you can work with that person to arrive at statistics, data, feedback, and facts that either support or refute the opinion. This elevates the quality of your conversation to a higher level.

• Point out when other people are presenting opinions as facts. This can be difficult to do because, in a way, you are pointing out that those other people might be lying. Plus, it can be unpleasant to challenge other people’s opinions. If someone says, for example, “Our price increases are killing sales,” you should consider exposing that statement by stating that it is an opinion, not a fact. You can then explore that opinion to see if it has validity or is simply an attempt to box you into a corner or limit a productive search for information and solutions. In some cases, you will discover the other person is simply trying to advance his or her own agenda or goals. One good choice of words is to say, “I believe . . .” (“I believe that other factors could be at work too . . . let’s explore some more.”) If said in a non-confrontational way, those words help you address the reality that another person is expressing an opinion as though it were a fact.

• When you are offering an opinion, precede it with the phrase, “In my opinion.” This differentiates opinions from facts. Perhaps more importantly, it raises the quality of the conversation by inviting people to contribute to your opinion, refute it, or offer productive alternatives of their own.

An Experiment for You to Try

Over the next few days, pay attention to times when people state opinions as facts. Watch some commentary shows on television and notice when it’s taking place too. Pay attention to your own communication and try to make sure that others know when you are stating an opinion. As you progress in this experiment, consider what you are learning about better communication, simply by focusing on differentiating facts from opinions.