Look out for loopers!

Distill the essence

Of everything you’ve covered in a meeting, conversation or workshop, what's the essence of that, up to now? This is a progress summary or snapshot of where you are.

We don’t use summaries anywhere near enough at work. As a result, we leave people hanging, wondering 'WTF is going on?'

When you tick off and make sense of chunks of discussion, you're truly making sense. We close off that part and able to move on to the next. If it's left open, unresolved, unsummarised, you can't move forward. You keep looping back until it's done.

The film 'Looper' starring Emily Blunt showed a loop in a loop of people coming back to life, to the past, to wipe others off the planet. We’re not getting that evil with sensemaking thank you, but what a great example of how you can lose track of now, the past, the present and the future because of broken loops.

Got ‘a looper’ in your meeting or workshop, someone who doesn't move on? You need to make sense quick! It’s not their fault; please try harder 😃

Traverse the Breadth

Once you’ve got context (see previous post), go wide on a topic before going deep.

Map out the scope of what this thing could be. It may not be where you are right now, or where you’re going, but identifying how broad this thing is helps see where our thinking could go. Once you’ve labelled or identified the breadth of a topic, you can draw people in to focus on different parts. When tangents are taken by people trying to make sense, you can see where they are on the breadth.

It's like taking a trip from say, London to Paris. The breadth is London… all the way over there to Paris. Draw a line: at one end London, the other Paris. We can get there in many different ways (and that is something for us to discuss, decide and agree on). Say we take a train. Along the breadth is that part out of London when it's all luscious countryside; then going into the tunnel, in the tunnel, coming out the other side, countryside, towns, outer city, Paris, station! That's breadth.

So… which bit are you going to focus on?

Thinking Tools for Sensemaking

Sensemaking is our ability to understand the deeper meaning of what’s going on.

In a crazy cray-cray world, with pressure to process vast amounts of information in lengthy meetings, we need to make sense as quickly as possible. But how? Do we sit around a meeting table, talking and listening as best we can?

Sadly, this is the default and gives us too much talk and not enough sense. You know, non-sense.

So do this instead: CLARIFY THE CONTEXT

Why are we doing this work? Set a big picture reason why and give people context. 'Context' is the setting, circumstances, the environment or situation. How many meetings start without time to focus on why the heck we are all there? Great mediators and conflict negotiators know if they can get high-level agreement at context, they’re part of the way to success. So ask and know: 'Why are we here? What are we trying to do?’ Big picture. Google Maps, Google Earth view, big big picture. Detail drillers? Not required right now.

Are you a big picture person or do you love details?

4 more ideas on adaptability

9 - Ingenuity

The Institute for the Future's 2020 skills included novel and adaptive thinking. We’ve got to find ways to be more resourceful and clever to get more of the right things done. This means hacking ourselves, hacking our systems and processes, and quite possibly, hacking other people too!

10 - Empathy

To understand and feel what others are experiencing is a power shift to make; from caring less to caring more. Trust goes deeper, quicker, and it’s not about you, it’s about them.

11 - Creativity

The subtle art of making things up is a human capability we’re born with - ranking highly on the list of the World Economic Forum's future work skills. Creativity creeps up higher in the rankings each year! The cry of ‘I’m not creative’ is done. Time to change that script!

12 - Curiosity

Our childlike wonder has been replaced with compliance, following rules and systems without knowing why. Don't jump to solutions, deny or discount; wonder more.

There you have 12 ideas about adaptability; it's THE capability of today.

Developing adaptability - your willingness to change

The next 4 ideas I’m posting on adaptability are:

5️⃣ Facilitation

Our world of work needs greater ease and progress, less red tape. Facilitation is about making things easier and to facilitate we'll need to give up being a control freak and be able to flex.

6️⃣ Visualisation

We're drowning in information! We need quicker and clearer ways to convey ideas and thinking. It's time to get over our ‘I can’t draw’ complex, and start making sketching, imagery and visualising an everyday kind of thing.

7️⃣ Experimentation

Do you test, try, fail and learn? That's adaptability right there! Good things are often brought about through advancing and pioneering schools of thought. Today’s workplaces need to be more laboratory than court room.

8️⃣ Improvisation

Responding to uncertainty is a daily requirement. Operating from principles rather than prescriptions can help because no two situations are the same, no two people are the same. Improv doesn’t just belong on the stage, in comedy festivals or on TV.