The goal of science is to replace visible complexity with invisible simplicity” – Jean Baptiste Perrin (Nobel Prize Winning Physicist)
The simple rules that explain what we experience are hiding in plain sight. We can learn to see it, but first we must to be willing to loosen our grip on what seems obvious.
Obvious is far too rooted in what we already know to be capable of creating new outcomes. Obvious is the thinking that created the situation we’re in.
Enter perspective-taking. It’s not just a tool for collaboration and stakeholder management. It’s a skill set for innovative problem-solving. Identify and challenge assumptions. Unearth unconscious bias and drag it into the light.
Exploring the edges is essential; discovering connections and adjacent relationships that open us to new lines of inquiry. This might look like a personal research project conducting a mapping review that informs a series of scoping reviews. It might be a year’s worth of ad hoc hallway conversations with a fellow change agent or a workplace book club. With purposeful agenda-setting and skilled facilitation, it could be our standing leadership meetings.
Start with questions like these:
- “If we wanted to break this, what’s the fastest way to do it?”
- “Which polarity are we dealing with? What complementary value could we incorporate?”
- “Forget the workflow diagram; who wields the influence around here?”
- “It’s impossible… unless?” (Dr. Alan Barnhard)
The action that leads to the greatest impact isn’t always the one we’re ready to take. Making time for questions is the kind of slow that builds momentum and gradually turns into fast.