Hearing the WHOLE Message

Here is Canada we just had another election (our 4th in 6 years, or something bizarre like that).  The results are in, and the Conservative party — one of 5 major parties — is in with a majority.  Now, in the Canadian system this means that they won greater than 155 of the available 308 seats in the House of Commons.  It does not necessarily mean that they won the majority of the popular vote — which they didn’t.  Their share of the popular vote was, in fact, just shy of 40%.  Which means that just over 60% of the country wanted a party other than the conservatives to govern.  In light of the fact that we have a multiple party system, and a system that doesn’t rely on proportional representation, all of this adds up to the Conservatives winning the election.

As I watched the results emerge on Monday night, I said to my husband that there were multiple messages being put forward, and that it was my sincerest hope that every party leader — regardless of where they placed in the election overall — would pay attention to the messages that were being put forth.  To ALL of the messages, not just the “we won” or “we lost” messages that inevitably rise to the top.  Don’t get me wrong; the “we won” and “we lost” messages are important; and they don’t tell the whole story.  There are subtleties — and even not so subtleties — that will get lost if the focus remains on simply winning or losing.  In my opinion, if the Conservatives — the winners — focus solely on their win, if they bulldoze their way forward with policies and corresponding implementation, if they ignore the other messages, including the one that the majority of voters actually voted for another party, I’m not sure they’ll be able to win again.  Indeed, the runner-up party made great strides this election, breaking historical records, and placing themselves as legitimate contenders for any election that comes up in the future.

Bottom-line:  I believe that there is a lesson in this election for each and every one of us as leaders.  Simply put, the lesson is this:  while you may choose where you put your focus, which component of the message you want to hear most strongly, you must also be aware of the whole message that’s being put forward.  Pay attention; don’t get arrogant.  Granted, you don’t want to ignore the “positive” in favour of the “negative”; however, pretending that the “negative” wasn’t part of the message doesn’t work either.  Hear the whole message, and move forward accordingly.