The Incomplete Little Prince

Guest blogger Ken Cameron, from Corporate CultureSHIFT, gives his thoughts on Dynamic Incompleteness. 

There's a wonderful metaphor in Theatre Calgary's world premiere production of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince.

 The Pilot, who has crashed in the Sahara desert, is accosted by The Little Prince from outer space. The Prince insists that the pilot draw him a sheep.

 But every time The Little Prince is always dissatisfied with The Pilot's poor attempt at sheep-drawing. The Pilot's sheeps are either too old, too young, or otherwise not to The Prince's unspoken specifications.

 The Prince is not able to define what he wants, but he is certainly capable of saying what he DOESN'T want

Finally, in frustration, The Pilot draws a square and says "the sheep you're looking for is inside that box".

 The Little Prince is thrilled! He finally has the sheep he has the drawing of a sheep that he has always desired! He spends a lot of time from then on telling the pilot what the sheep is doing inside the box.

This is an example of what business writer Chris McGoff calls "dynamic incompleteness".

"Great leaders bring just enough vision to move and inspire people. They present their vision and invite others to contribute their ideas to fill in the gaps."

The next time you're bringing an idea forward to your team, be sure not to overthink it.

 Be sure not to fill in all the gaps.

 Leave room for your audience to use their own imagination.

 Allow them to see room for themselves in your vision.

http://www.theprimes.com/dynamic-incompleteness

The Fallacy About Group Consensus in Consultation

I was working with a group recently and the discussion turned to a recent consultation exercise the organization had run last year. Many of the group were unhappy with the outcome decided upon by the Senior Management Team, a familiar refrain "Management didn't listen to us!" was heard around the room.

I probed a little deeper about what had happened ... "We were asked for our views" I was told, "But Management didn't listen...", "I didn't agree with their decision ...", "It wasn't the outcome I wanted ...".

"What were you expecting from a consultation exercise?" I asked. It transpired that what many people expected was to be asked their opinion and then management to implement a proposal that everyone agreed on, even though not everyone agreed on THE solution. It seemed to me that people had got themselves a little bogged down in what consensus following a consultation exercise actually is.

So I referred people to the explanation of consensus provided by Chris McGoff in his book "The Primes". Chris describes consensus as the following ...

"Process Satisfaction: Was the process used explicit, rational and fair?

Personal Treatment: Were you, personally, treated well? Did you have ample opportunity to be heard, to make your opinion known and to consider others opinions?

Outcome Satisfaction: Can you live with the outcome and commit to supporting the decisions of the group?"

Note the distinction in this last point between "live with" and "agree with". You don't have to agree with everything, but can you live with the decision?

Having explained Chris McGoff's thought process I asked them to review the recent consultation process in light of the Consensus Prime. Upon reflection the group, with a couple of exceptions, believed that the process had been fair, they had been listened to and they could live with the outcome. As one participant commented if "I'd known that consensus didn't necessairly mean agreement, this would have been an easier ride".

So perhaps a learning point for all ... be clear what you mean by consensus when consulting with your employees.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know your thoughts.