Dissonance is misalignment

What is dissonance? My old reliable friend Google defines the word dissonance as “a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements.” In other words, “dissonance” is present when we start to notice that things do not seem to add up.

Dissonance is there when what certain people say do not square with what they do. In business as in work, dissonance is when the “why” of work does not square with the “what” of the daily activities. There are misalignments. Here is an example, during the holidays, I called up a restaurant wanting to order some barbecue chicken for my family. I wanted it delivered to my home. A helpful lady from the other end of the line suggested a “24-hour Food Delivery Hotline.” I called.

Just after two rings, the pre-programmed voice from their answering machine says, “Hi! Thank you for calling our 24-7 food delivery hotline. We are happy to serve you. Your call is important to us. Currently, all of our order takers are busy but will be very happy to serve you once they are available. Meanwhile, please stay on the line, and an available server will be with you in a few moments.”

Then there is the traditional music, company jingle, quick announcements on their other products, and then it stopped. After two or three seconds, the familiar music came back and played again. And the usual spiel is repeated: “Hi! Thank you for calling our 24-7 food delivery hotline. We are happy to serve you. Your call is important to us. Currently, all of our order takers are busy but will be very happy to serve you once they are available. Meanwhile, please stay on the line, and an available server will be with you in a few moments.”

I am a very patient person. I waited for about 10 minutes and helped rationalized: “It’s the holiday season. The staff may have been swamped with calls — those poor people. I shouldn’t be upset. Who knows? Maybe one of them would be free to take my call. So I waited again. “Hi! Thank you for calling our 24-7 food delivery hotline. We are happy to serve you. Your call is important to us...” Another 15 minutes later, taking a break from reading articles using my smartphone, I finally smart up. Wait a minute. If my call is important to them, then why do these bozos refuse to take my call, they have wasted my time convincing me that my call is important to them yet there is no member of the human species there to at least pick up the phone and talk to me. Dissonance! It’s also a blatant lie.

Dissonance is defined as things that do not seem to add up. A lie is defined as logical inconsistency. My call is important to them but they ignore it? How illogical can you be?

Consider the examples of misalignments and dissonance:

1. We deliver innovative solutions to clients, and then we say: “Just give the clients whatever they ask and want!”

2. We value team and collaboration. Then the leaders say, “Just do what I told you to do and don’t ask questions.”

3. Business owners teach integrity, yet the way they do business is unethical.

4. Speakers extol the value of authenticity, truth, and honesty and refuse to give credit attribution to materials copied from other sources.

Dissonance carries negative repurcussions to business. It has been said that “Business organizations begin to decline the moment their people no longer know the why behind what they do, and they don’t even care to know.” “Everything said and done is just for the money anyways...”

Leaders should exhibit integrity. Their talk should match their walk. Speakers and trainers like me should stop practicing what we preach and instead preach what we are already practicing. Parents should show kids that they say what they mean and mean what they say, and their actions are in accord with their words.

 Jesus Christ was on the spot when He said, “You shall know them by their fruits” (and not just by their words...) The sermons are useless unless those who give it display the lessons they teach. The opposite of dissonance is congruence.

Parker J. Palmer takes courage to “join soul and role” in organizations that make it unsafe to show up with integrity and act in alignment with it. But when we find that courage, our lives become more whole; our work reaches deeper, the people we serve are better served, and, in ways large and small, the world becomes a better place. You know what? I agree.

(Francis Kong runs his two day Level Up Leadership 2020 workshop-seminar this March 11-12 at Makati Diamond Residences (near Greenbelt 1). For further inquiries or reservations contact April at +63928-559-1798 or register online at www.levelupleadership.ph)