HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL
Question:“How do you eat an elephant?”
Answer:“One bite at a time.”An illustration of the use of the Sorting Out Complex Situations tool was in a company where,
over several months, the “communications problem” kept cropping up in conversations and
on meeting agendas. At the CEO’s suggestion, the newsletter was beefed up. Employees were
still disgruntled. Some leaders suggested a motivation workshop, others an employee survey,
while still others suggested an all-employee meeting to clear the air. Use of this tool prevent-
ed the need for all of these costly “solutions.” A cross-section of employees was asked to help
better define the problem. Their concerns covered a wide range, from “The automated answer-
ing system is losing telephone messages” to “I can’t talk to my boss.” No single action could
possibly have alleviated such a wide range of concerns. The concerns were prioritized and the
most important ones were dealt with.
When you hear a big fuzzy coupled with name-to-blame, your antennae should go up. This
occurs when people label problems without giving them much thought. For example: the
“engineering problem” (projects are behind schedule), the “personnel problem” (too many
people are leaving the company), the “purchasing problem” (inventory is too high), and so on.
In these cases, the problem needs to be renamed. Implied blame needs to be removed from par-
ticular groups or functions and defined more practically and concretely, in order to render the
problem less emotional. Name the problem, not the person or department.
Keeping all of this in mind, begin by tackling one big fuzzy in your organization that needs
to be sorted out. Start by getting together a small group of interested stakeholders with vary-
ing perspectives (e.g., 5 to 9 people), and use the chart provided to help you and your group
prioritize elements and plan action.
SECTION 6 TOOLS FORCRITICALTHINKING ANDINNOVATION 177
✔ Have the group brainstorm the elements of the big fuzzy, making the information visible
to all (e.g., flip chart, whiteboard). A powerful question is, “Can you give me an example
of ...?” This encourages concrete and actionable concerns. Don’t evaluate, debate, or
discuss at this stage. Encourage questions for clarification only. Until the group has
assigned priorities, you don’t even know whether debate is necessary.
[☛6.6 Six-Hat Thinking, 6.9 Brainstorming, 10.9 Visible Information]
✔ It may be helpful to first discuss your priority-setting criteria. It may also be helpful to
categorize or group the issues in some way, but be careful! Grouping at too high a level can
lead to overgeneralized, rather than specific, action plans.
[☛10.11 Priority Setting]
✔ For each high-priority item, determine what will be done, who will do it, how it will be
done, timelines, and follow-up actions.
[☛10.12 RASCI Planning]- Brainstorm, making
the elements of the
problem visible. - Evaluate and assign
priorities. - Plan action on the
top priorities.