Summer Edition #1 - When you just don't see it

Summer Edition #1

Unconscious misperception

You probably know who this is. This anthropomorphic pig (and her family) was sold for US$3.8b to the toy company Hasbro. (As an aside, that values Peppa Pig the same as the entire Star Wars franchise). But look carefully at her eyes. How many does she have?

You’re right if you said four. We see Peppa Pig always in profile, with two eyes. Naturally, she would, in reality, look something like this.

As an owner-operator of a 15yo, it wasn’t that long ago that I was seeing Peppa Pig almost daily and, honestly, this misperception never occurred to me. Not once.

Question: What do you see often, but fail to see accurately? (And how would you find out if you were?)

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Giving feedback to defensive people (Part 1)

I was asked by a client this week, “Do you think there’s any hope for us?” He was feeling dismayed by some repeated behavioural patterns in his executive team that had left him feeling dismissed and, at times, undermined.

My response, which I truly believe, was that at least 90% of leadership teams CAN overcome behavioural blockers, subject to three sequential conditions:

1. Willingness to improve: A strong ‘Why must we?’ and possibly a ‘What will happen if we don’t?’

2. Personal awareness: Often requires behavioural feedback (more on that below)

3. Facility (capability) to improve: Mostly involves some courageous learning (with some stumbles)

Steps 2 and 3 both involve upskilling to be able to give ‘in the moment’ behavioural feedback, in the knowledge that the recipient may respond defensively. The method I have taught for decades — and get consistently tremendous feedback on — is the PEAR approach:

• Present - An objective observation of fact (“Your questions in our meetings indicate that you aren’t pre-reading papers”)

• Effect - An objective statement of consequence (“This means we spend time back-filling context which benefits only you. The rest of us switch off while that’s happening”)

• Alternative - One or more alternatives to the present behaviour (“Can you commit to the pre-reading? Or, if it’s an issue for others too, could we use Amazon’s model of providing reading time in meetings?)

• Result - A significant benefit, calculated to interest the person whose behaviour requires changing (“If you made this change, your contributions are likely to carry more weight”)

Style of delivery is key. Timing is important. And, rapport is needed. Even then, my assumption is that people WILL respond, at least partially, defensively. You’ll see justification, blame, acquiescence (false agreement) and even attack. What to do when that happens? I’ll provide Part 2 next Friday.

But for now, I’ll reiterate that 90% of teams are improvable because I guarantee that most of them aren’t giving open, objective, constructive feedback or challenge.

Question: What capacity does your team have for constructively critical feedback as a norm?

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Gamifying strategy

Can strategy be fun? As a strategy consultant, I couldn’t wait to try this card game, Beyond Design. The aim is to create solutions to social problems in a fast and enjoyable way. Each player (or team) selects a topic card at random (e.g., money), then a target audience (e.g., children) and creates a problem statement (e.g., lack of financial education for kids).

Then, the fun starts. You mindmap possible ideas about solving the problem (e.g., gamification, parental guidance, digital money) and stimulate your ideas by drawing 4 random visual association cards (a little like musician Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies).

Very quickly, you generate a key to solving the problem (“Gamified education using digital money is a key to solving lack of financial skills in kids”). Then, you think of mediums to help solve the problem, and draw 3 partner cards (e.g., media, government) and make a proposal to those partners. You finish by putting it all together into a 90-second winning pitch.

It’s fast-paced (20 minutes tops), entertaining and bonding for teams. You’re not going to solve truly wicked and complex problems but this game is like a rapid workout for the parts of the brain needed to do great strategic thinking. Highly recommended.

Question: What ‘warm ups’ can you and your team do to ready yourselves for really great strategic thinking?

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Do let me know your thoughts on the questions above in the comments. And, click the heart to let me know you’ve enjoyed reading this week.

Have a great weekend, and I’ll be with you again next Friday.

Andrew