Many of us are familiar with Occam’s Razor: the principle that suggests that when there is more than one explanation for something, the one with the fewest assumptions is more likely to be accurate. Basically – keep it simple.
But perhaps many of us are less familiar with the principle of Hanlon’s Razor. This is a mental model which states that you shouldn’t ascribe malice to something which can be explained by neglect or ignorance. In other words, if something bad happens to you, there’s a good chance that it wasn’t done deliberately.
When things go wrong, many of us jump to the conclusion that it’s a conspiracy. Our family is trying to annoy us, our friends are ignoring us, our co-workers are out to get us. But in reality this is rarely the case because most of the time, when things go wrong, it’s by accident.
However, if we constantly assume there is malicious intent it can have an extremely negative impact on our relationships with people. If, every time something goes wrong at work, we start accusing our co-workers of trying to sabotage us, our relationship with them will quickly deteriorate. And of course, it doesn’t occur to us think about the times we may have annoyed or made life difficult for someone else without even realising it.
By adopting Hanlon’s Razor however, we can develop a mindset which is beneficial for building and maintaining relationships. In business, relationships between customers, consumers, clients, and companies are crucial when it comes to the long-term survival and profitability of organisations.
So, by ascribing malice to suppliers when something is late, or to customers if a post does not get the engagement we think it should, if we assume that they are out to get us or doing it deliberately to hurt our company, then the relationship will be so severely damaged that the business will suffer. If you constantly hound, berate, and accuse your supplier if they are late with one delivery for example, they may well stop working with you which will cause you problems.
And in the end, the chances are that something went wrong, and your supplier is just as annoyed about the late delivery as you are.
Hanlon’s Razor builds stronger relationships. We don’t get so annoyed by those around us, and vice versa. Business relationships are vital, and we should want to maintain a great relationship will all parts of the supply chain.
Of course, sometimes, people will be malicious and try to mess things up – and this needs to be dealt with. But usually, always jumping to the most damning conclusion or always accusing people of being out to get us is a quick way to damage relationships – and the long-term health of the business – irreparably.