Be Ruthlessly Compassionate

1. Avoid the Five Cancers of Communication

In class we talked about the five cancers of communication. These are competing, comparing, complaining, criticizing and contending. This definitely applies to us as members of the Church. These "cancers" are too often the cause of people leaving the Church. Many Latter-Day Saints, especially recent converts, become inactive due to being offended by some other member. I believe that anytime offense is taken it is most likely due to one of those five cancers being used by the offending person. If those cancers were nonexistent in the Church, I'm sure that we would see much higher activity percentages.

We also see these five cancers showing up in the Columbia case. I think that competition was probably the most responsible of the cancers. The management seemed to be competing against the teams they set up to investigate the situation. It was as if they set up the investigation teams simply to show proaction when in reality they didn't want any solution that was not convenient. Had the management not been involved in so much competition to stay on schedule, they probably would have been more receptive to the demands and findings of the DAT team.

2. Win/Win Don't Negotiate

Negotiation is the lesser form of win/win. Win/win is the preferred method in resolving conflicts. I think this can apply to Church settings. Often in the Church we get organized into councils, teams, and quorums that have to decide on certain policies, activities and positions. Knowing how to create a win/win situation will benefit not only the people involved in the negotiation, but also everyone who is affected by the results of the outcome. I think in the Church we have an advantage of being led by the Spirit which, if followed, will always lead to a win/win situation.

Had the people involved in the challenger disaster taken a win/win approach to solving the problem, none of the astronauts would have died that fateful day. Instead they tried to take a win/lose position which actually generated a lose/lose situation. The managers did not want to be thrown of schedule so they decided to risk the possible failure of the shuttle's protective shield upon reentry. The risk taken caused the deaths of seven astronauts. Besides this huge loss, the shuttle was also left in thousands of pieces making NASA's future schedule an impossibility. This was the ultimate lose/lose situation.

3. Be Ruthlessly Compassionate

Being ruthlessly compassionate is the highest form of win/win. In the Church this definitely is seen among our leaders. When our leaders make a statement of position it is ruthless. There is no denying God's will. However, at the same time we are compassionate. We don't force these positions onto other people. We are compassionate with their beliefs and positions yet ruthless in sticking with our own position. This would also be a good way to conduct meetings. We should not be shy in boldly presenting what they believe the proper position should be. We also should be very compassionate when hearing other peoples positions and discuss the pros and cons of such positions. If everyone acts in this manner no one will be offended and eventually the best possible solution will rise and present itself as the only possible solution.

In regards to the Columbia case, some people needed to be more ruthless while others needed to be more compassionate. Had the DAT group been more ruthless they could have secured their demanded photographs for more accurate information. They also could have forced the higher people in command to hear their warnings of the high plausibility of catastrophe. Also the management should have been more compassionate to the DAT group in listening and heeding their demands and warnings. The DAT group was assembled to estimate the possible dangers, when these dangers were found they were simply ignored.