I have been talking a lot about Justice over the past two weeks so I thought I would take a step back and explain what it means to me and what I have learned about justice.
First off, I know that this topic can be a hot-button issue and one that can polarize people quickly. I am not going to talk about this from a political stand point at all but rather a human perspective and what I have learned from the point of view of a project manager.
As you all know, I love the Japanese culture and language so I thought I would take a little time to unpack the interpretation of justice from their perspective.
When you look at the kanji for justice (義) you learn that justice can be interpreted as a sense of duty & morality, a debt of gratitude, to live with righteousness, and honor. This got me thinking a little bit because I think a lot of people would naturally gravitate toward a punitive type of interpretation which is I think for the most part what it has come to mean in North America.
Not suggesting that either perspective is right or wrong, but what if justice can only be realized if we all embraced morality, righteousness and honor. But not from an inside out viewpoint, from an outside in. Self reflection.
Incorporating the principle of justice into your life requires self reflection on what fairness means and then upholding the value of morals & character.
I think that in order for justice really to be realized we all need to be looking inward to reflect on our thoughts & beliefs, our words and our actions. We shouldn’t be waiting for someone to catch us doing something wrong in order for us to do what is right.
We as individuals need to know what it is that we stand for. Why do you stand for it (whatever it is)? What does standing for something mean to you? How do others know that you stand for it?
This is the core of being able to uphold justice, being able to decipher right and wrong and living it from a desire to get things right not to be right as Brené Brown so wonderfully put it.
So if you are leading projects and you are only focused on the bottom line and getting a particular result, you may be leaving out an important ingredient to your long term success as an individual.
Incorporating justice into our lives and ourselves will allow us to lead our projects and lives with authenticity. Giving everyone at the table a voice, taking a pause when you need to be still and not rushing through a process just to meet a deadline, and being thoughtful about how you are showing up are all aspects of what that means.
So let me ask you, how are you incorporating justice into the work and projects you are leading on a regular basis? Are you just trying to meet timelines, budgets and results or are you including the people component into the work you are doing?
#justice #projectmanagement #continuousimprovement #authenticity #authenticself
Steve Beauchamp 