Boxes

29/7/2019

Thinking out of the box sounds good in principle yet can be difficult to do in practice. What if, say, you are the box, or you don’t know you’re in a box, or you can’t see the box? What if others you’re working with are in boxes, or don’t know they’re in boxes, or want to put you in a box, or don’t like your box? I was asked once to coach and mentor an HR colleague who needed to learn to think outside of the box. I asked for clarification. It turns out they meant that she lacked, yet needed, strategic thinking and systems thinking for her role. She looked at me blankly. She couldn’t see what she couldn’t see.

I wondered how to enable her to make a shift to conceptual (‘strategic’, ‘systemic’) from practical; to abstract ideas from concrete examples that she could work with and learn from. She described herself as a detail person, trained to spot the critical points in the micro, e.g. salary spreadsheets so that reports were accurate and errors were avoided. I decided, therefore, to start with an example in the micro and to work out from there to a wider macro. This, I hoped, would gradually bring wider systemic and strategic issues and perspectives into view and highlight the links between them.

I invited her to bring an example from her work. She chose an email from a client in her business partner role. It raised a query about how to deal with a performance issue in his team. She had been about to respond to the email with advice on performance management policies and procedures. I invited her to draw a small box on a large, blank sheet of paper and to draw the person inside the box who was to be performance managed. I then invited her to draw a larger box outside of that box and to draw anyone or anything in that box that could be influencing the person’s performance.

As she considered this, various issues and key people came to mind. She wrote them in the box. I asked, ‘What might these different stakeholders hope you will take into account in addressing this?’ She jotted down those thoughts too. I then invited her to draw an even larger box around that one…and repeated the process until we had reached external stakeholders, opportunities and risks and future horizons. At each stage, she was able to consider significant questions and intervention options. It brought a wider picture into view so that she could see it. How do you deal with boxes?

Do you need help with thinking out of the box? Get in touch! info@nick-wright.com

40 Comments

Hannah

29/7/2019 07:04:05 pm

I like that way of drawing it out so you can see the bigger picture! I might try that approach out the next time the challenges in my life seem too overwhelming!

Nick Wright

29/7/2019 07:08:52 pm

Thanks Hannah. Yes, this type of technique can help us to see people and issues in very different perspective.

Lilin

30/7/2019 10:23:43 am

Most people are in their imaginary boxes and don’t realise it. Your example is good but can he do it himself? Habit of a lifetime, past experiences, personality, upbringing, etc all helped to shape the box(es).
And all depends on how sturdy are the boxes🤣 Can you get them to open a little window to peep outside?

30/7/2019 10:40:52 am

Hi Lilin. Those are great questions. In my experience, people are able to grow in personal, relational and situational awareness when prompted and enabled to reflect critically through, say, coaching.

However, in the example cited here, the client may also need to do some research, firstly to discover and learn that which he/she couldn't do through critical reflection alone and, secondly, to test out his/her tentative hypotheses.

I like your metaphor of opening a little window to peep outside. For some people, that's a great place to start. Others would prefer to throw themselves out of the window or to get rid of the window (and the box) altogether! :)

Gwen Griffith

30/7/2019 12:38:24 pm

Love it!!

Never used “boxes”, have used circles (of influence). Thanks

Gwen

30/7/2019 12:42:07 pm

Thanks Gwen! Yes, circles of influence is another great tool. I also really like Argyris & Schön's double and triple loop learning. Are you familiar with it?

30/7/2019 04:52:21 pm

No, I don’t know it.

30/7/2019 04:53:35 pm

Hi Gwen. Here’s a link to a short into article that you may find interesting? https://www.mikethementor.co.uk/blog/2018/4/4/single-double-and-triple-loop-change

John Brennan

30/7/2019 04:11:00 pm

Does a box make me feel claustrophobic or protected? It depends on the size of the box in which I am stuck, or which I build around other people. Do I need a small box that gives me security? Or is the box around me too tall so that I can’t see out of it, over the top, which scares me?

30/7/2019 04:12:49 pm

Hi John. Interesting reflections. You have reminded me of John Bowlby’s ‘secure base’ phenomenon. Are you familiar with it?

Lollo Mofolo

31/7/2019 06:26:21 pm

All of it! The more things change, the more they stay the same! 🙃

31/7/2019 06:27:52 pm

Hi Lollo. Aaah...plus ça change plus c'est la même chose!

31/7/2019 06:41:58 pm

Nick, hahaha never heard that one, love it ✅

31/7/2019 06:45:06 pm

Hi Lollo. I only know if from the song, 'Circumstances' by Rush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZOgc8CgWUU :)

E.G.Sebastian - CPC, CSL

1/8/2019 12:27:11 pm

Ah..., mon fraire, Nick, tu parle francais!??

1/8/2019 12:28:02 pm

Hi E.G. Yep - all 8 words of it. :)

Robin Sawan

1/8/2019 12:10:25 pm

Why the box in the first place? As you rightly said, "Thinking out of the box sounds good in principle yet can be difficult to do in practice." The moment you say 'think out of the box', you may be putting a boundary on the other person's thinking and she/he will now desperately struggle to get out of the box. This person may start arguing, become defensive about their point of view, walkout or just give up. Instead what if you said 'How else can it be done? What else can be done? Who else can help? How can we do it differently?' This might allow the other person to get out of the brain freeze mode, attack/defend mode, struggle mode & start thinking beyond where they stopped.

Maybe there is no box. I suspect that the person who says 'think out of the box' might herself/himself be stuck in the box.

1/8/2019 12:13:36 pm

Hi Robin. That's a fair challenge and shows the power of language! 'Maybe there is no box' is an interesting idea. If we work from a social constructionist perspective, we could say - paradoxically - that there are no boxes and that everything is boxes; depending on how we conceive the idea of 'box'.

1/8/2019 12:15:10 pm

Wow, Nick, you just blew my box! :)

I believe, whether we see it or not, we are all in a box. Our upbringing alone and our beliefs that we picked up along the way, firmly secure us in a box. The question is, am I happy in my box? Do I feel like I'm living my purpose - I'm having fun - I'm doing what I LOVE to do in my box... Am I satisfied, or am I stressed, frustrated... do I feel like my box limits me? If yes, yes, TRY to think outside of the box... which as you well state it in the article, it's hard to do.

Was it Einstein who said that you can't solve a problem with the mind that created it? I think same applies to the "box" - it's hard to think outside of it, while you are in it :)

That's why it's so helpful to have a coach; or belong to a mastermind group where you can ask for "outsiders" (pun intended) to give you their perspective.

1/8/2019 12:25:34 pm

Thanks E.G. You made me laugh - as usual! :) As I read your comments, I became aware of how, sometimes, working as a coach with clients to enable them to see, examine, perhaps dismantle or reconstruct their boxes can leave them, at least initially, feeling less happy than they were originally inside their box. It's an 'ignorance is bliss' phenomenon. I touched on this in a short related piece that you may find interesting. It received an astonishing number of responses! http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/head-in-the-sand

1/8/2019 07:28:05 pm

I always say that God put me on this earth to put a smile on people's faces. This day starts yet again with me being on purpose :)
....
Yes... "... can leave them, at least initially, feeling less happy " OR can have a sense of freedom and (initial) elation, feeling like "I can finally breath" (as their original "box" was feeling more restricting)... and for some this newly found freedom can be maintained and built on (especially if they work with a good coach); and others slip back into their "tidy" box that was built on well-ingrained beliefs and habits.

1/8/2019 07:30:08 pm

Hi E.G. That's a great reason to be on this earth. :) Yes, exploring boxes with a client can be a liberating experience that can open up all sorts of fresh possibilities.

Ather Alam Khan

1/8/2019 07:25:30 pm

Think, there is no box.

1/8/2019 07:26:18 pm

Hi Ather. That can be an interesting proposition. No limits.

2/8/2019 10:30:18 am

Hi Nick, what I believe this is the only proposition. I always think why should I limit myself only by thinking out of the box.

2/8/2019 10:34:36 am

Hi Ather. I like your almost-paradoxical-sounding idea that 'thinking out of the box' is too limited. You may find this related short piece interesting: http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/deconstructing-the-box

2/8/2019 11:15:52 am

"Deconstructing the box entails a willingness to acknowledge it first – to explore and reveal the unspoken, the unspeakable, the not-yet imagined"
This is the key takeaway!!!

2/8/2019 11:16:50 am

😀

Michael Harreld, MDiv. B.A.

2/8/2019 12:37:22 am

Good visual practice example you share here.

2/8/2019 12:38:11 am

Hi Michael. Thanks for the encouraging feedback!

Patrick Trottier

2/8/2019 04:21:45 pm

Maybe one is NOT in a box, they only think they are in a box because someone told them they were in a box... like an OD consultatnt. Summary; create something different. Move from the box of being in a box (problem / analytical based) to an 'act of creation'. The questions, although interesting, will certainly reinforce the box - because one would spend all their time answering those questions, and being so 'smart' - rather than just spend one's energy on 'creating comething' ... the concept of being in a box, is, in itself - a box... the end.

2/8/2019 04:29:52 pm

Hi Patrick. As I read your note, the image of a hall or mirrors came to mind...so that, for instance, the concept that the concept of being in a box is a box...and it can go in indefinitely.

When we say that, maybe, someone is not in a box but they only think they are, insights from psychodynamics (e.g. introjection) and Gestalt (e.g. fixed Gestalt) also come to mind.

I like the act of creating something. It carries less of a sense of being stuck and more of a sense of freedom - at least for me. Whatever we create will, however, have its own boundaries too.

On the idea of deconstructing the box, you may find this related short piece interesting? http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/deconstructing-the-box

3/8/2019 01:02:52 pm

Hi Nick - I'm enjoying the conversation... one thought to add to your note in reply to my comment about 'being in a box (problem / analytical based) vs to manifest an 'act of creation':

Your comment - re: "I like the act of creating something. It carries less of a sense of being stuck and more of a sense of freedom - at least for me. ***Whatever we create will, however, have its own boundaries too.***"

To this last sentence, I say - not if one understands the dynamics of Emergent Change®.

"“Emergent change is based on the shaping of continuous ‘forms’ by internal and external influencing patterns and determinates. That which emerges may be further shaped into further continually evolving patterns.” (P. Trottier, 1995)

All the best... Patrick A. Trottier

3/8/2019 01:10:25 pm

Hi Patrick. Thanks for further thoughts and challenge. I do have some understanding of the dynamics of emergent change. I could say too, however, that my understanding is subject to 'shaping of continuous ‘forms’ by internal and external influencing patterns and determinates.' :)

We may be dealing with semantics here...but we could say, for instance, that the notion of 'emergent change' and all that falls within it represents a box, or a boundary, that distinguishes it from other concepts, models etc. of change. Whenever we use language, we inescapably express and, at times, reinforce the box.

Two of the boxes that influence my own thinking box here are social constructionism and Gestalt. Are you familiar with them?

3/8/2019 02:26:55 pm

Yes, I am familiar with both. I was a student of Gestalt. I integrate much into my work. I am a student of social constructionism... the manifestation of social and individual beliefs, meaning, assumptions and perceptions, etc. and the consequences of such...

All are a continuous and a constant (vs. 'a constant') emergence process... emergence itself has no boundaries being an open system... the boudaries that we create in an 'emergent process' are only those we assume and define and give words to, etc - as such, such is not 'emergence'...

3/8/2019 02:42:35 pm

Hi Patrick. I'm trying to decide if this conversation itself is emergent...or if we are each trapped in our respective boxes...or a bit of both...or something else..?! :)

Michelle Ellis

2/8/2019 10:51:45 pm

Simplicity at its best!

2/8/2019 10:52:21 pm

Thanks Michelle. Simple...but not always easy!

Julie Holly

2/8/2019 10:53:25 pm

I like how you took an abstract idea and made it concrete for your client.

2/8/2019 10:57:45 pm

Thanks Julie. Yes, it seemed to work well in that instance.

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