‘Is that sufficiently unclear?’ (Richard Gold) I took part in a fascinating workshop with Richard Gold this week. Richard is a Lego Serious Play facilitator who uses Lego as a colourful, creative, engaging and experiential tool to raise awareness, evoke insight and generate ideas with individuals, teams and groups. The method involves touching, moving, doing – physically – rather than simply talking about. It is a fun, visceral method that plays with metaphor and imagination and invites experimentation and team collaboration. At each stage of the process, Richard offers minimal guidance, simple prompts, then asks in provocative spirit, ‘Is that sufficiently unclear?’ What a great question. It creates optimal space for serendipitous new experiments, insights and ideas to surface and evolve without being directive or prescriptive. It provides just-enough; inviting team participation, courage and co-creation. It reminds me of Henry Mintzberg’s ‘emergence’ – take a step forward and see what comes into view. So that got me thinking about leadership, OD, coaching and training. There are situations where directive and prescriptive interventions are entirely appropriate. Yet how often – perhaps in our desire to impress, be helpful or achieve the outcomes we hope for – do we exercise too much control over the person, task or process? How often, in doing so, do we limit the potential for personal/team initiative, ownership, discovery and innovation? Are you sufficiently un-clear?
42 Comments
Richard Gold
14/6/2018 09:59:47 am
Thanks, so much Nick. I really enjoyed the workshop. It’s amazing to see what emerges when you let your hands help with the thinking.
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Nick Wright
14/6/2018 10:03:03 am
Hi Richard. It was great to have you with us. :)
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Nick Richmond
15/6/2018 10:16:07 am
Nice, looking forward to working with you Richard, love the question...let's make sure we use this with our client!
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Stefan Nemecek, MBA
15/6/2018 10:18:07 am
Love the wording, Richard!
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Simon Dutton
15/6/2018 10:18:50 am
Added to my lexicon - thanks Richard.
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McVal Osborne
14/6/2018 10:03:56 am
Hah, I have definitely had Richard ask me "is that sufficiently unclear?"
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Nick Wright
14/6/2018 10:04:35 am
Hi McVal. It is such a great question!
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Dawn Cooper (MIoD, MCIPD)
14/6/2018 10:05:34 am
Great questions Nick... on Friday we are facilitating an "unclear" session with a group of leaders. We are going to truly co-design... in the moment, based on their identified needs.. not what we think it might be!! It's going to be an interesting Friday 😁
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Nick Wright
14/6/2018 10:06:41 am
Thanks Dawn. I'd love to hear more about how you plan to approach the un-clear session. Let us know what happens?!
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Angela Shimada
15/6/2018 10:16:50 am
Looking forward to it!
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Paul Kelly
14/6/2018 10:07:17 am
A great way to encourage thinking o/s your comfort zone where it is most likely that breakthrough ideas will emerge. I guess trust within the group is important though or is that less of a concern?
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Nick Wright
14/6/2018 10:14:06 am
Thanks Paul. I think trust is a really important dimension to the equation. Do I trust that the facilitator is not playing games with the team in some unhelpful or manipulative sense? Do I trust that, if I place my hands on the lego and simply start doing something with it, that something will emerge into awareness if I do? Do I trust that my colleagues will not mock me if I struggle to build something 'artistic'? Trust grows between people when we take a risk and find ourselves supported (Covey).
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Cameron Burns
14/6/2018 04:52:11 pm
Love this!!
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Nick Wright
14/6/2018 04:52:34 pm
Thanks Cameron! :)
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Carl E Tinsley
15/6/2018 10:20:03 am
Great post Nick, using Conversational Intelligence fundamentals is critical to finding something new i.e. ... "ask questions we don't know the answers to"; and it relates to the implicit learning of Conversational Hypnosis also ... "establish the scenario so the unconscious mind is free-er to make some new connections". Love this post and I'm going to buy me some big lego for next session!! :)
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Nick Wright
15/6/2018 10:24:31 am
Thanks Carl. I haven't heard of 'conversational intelligence' or 'conversational hypnosis' before. Sounds intriguing. I like how a friend and colleague, Ian Henderson (who specialises in NLP), frames it: 'Evoke a state of curiosity'.
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Alison Down
15/6/2018 11:11:46 am
Hi Nick, I agree that it’s a wonderful question. I’ve noticed how clients can reflect, feel seen, heard, recognised then emerge with their own ideas when the question is just enough or just right. A space a skillful coach creates to let imagination and discovery take place. Thank you!
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Nick Wright
15/6/2018 11:20:12 am
Thanks Alison. Yes, I worked with a very skilled coach, Claire Pedrick, who specialised in using very minimal prompts, e.g. 'So..?', 'And...?', 'And now..?', 'What else..?, 'Next..?' etc. It was effective and allowed space and opportunity for imagination and discovery. On the just-enough theme, you may find these related short pieces interesting?
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Vicky Ross
16/6/2018 02:20:33 pm
Wow Nick, what an interesting and thought provoking post. Thank you!
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Nick Wright
16/6/2018 02:21:01 pm
Hi Vicky. Thanks for your encouraging feedback! :)
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Lisa Elliott RGN RSCN MSc
16/6/2018 02:22:33 pm
Are you sufficiently unclear? What a brilliant way of asking the question - we need to see how it works in our next #LegoSeriousPlay workshop.
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Nick Wright
16/6/2018 02:23:18 pm
Thanks Lisa. Yes - I loved the question too! Let me know how it goes at your next workshop.
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Lyn Alba de Juárez
16/6/2018 10:01:13 pm
Very interesting Nick. And thks also Carl.
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Nick Wright
16/6/2018 10:02:30 pm
Thanks Lyn.
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Jayant Das
17/6/2018 08:44:51 am
Wonderful insights ... Great question.
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Nick Wright
17/6/2018 08:45:20 am
Thank you, Jayant.
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Darko Markovic
18/6/2018 08:24:29 am
What a wonderful question.
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Nick Wright
19/6/2018 11:19:02 am
Thanks Darko. I agree!
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Lorna Shaw
19/6/2018 11:19:53 am
I love the technique and what a great question.
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Nick Wright
19/6/2018 11:21:07 am
Thanks Lorna. The technique has resonances with Gestalt. Are you familiar with it? You may find these related short pieces interesting?
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Carolyn Mumby
20/6/2018 10:15:20 am
Thanks for sharing Nick. Love the illustration too! The principle of seeing what emerges from the clients own thinking resonates for me with the Time to Think approach as described by Nancy Kline, which you may be aware of. After asking "what would you like to think about and what are your thoughts?" the question, when requested, "what more, do you think, or feel or want to say?" seems to act like a re-boot to the mind and set off a fresh wave of thinking. I love that this takes the thinker to the places they need and want to go to, rather than in the direction which may arise in the mind of the coach. After they have done their best thinking, I might give my thoughts, if requested, but this is not always needed. http://www.timetothink.com/thinking-environment/
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Nick Wright
20/6/2018 10:18:42 am
Thanks Carolyn. Yes, that's a useful cross-reference with Nancy Kline's work in this area. I like the stimulus of paradoxical questions posed in Gestalt work too, e.g. 'What are we not noticing?', 'What are we not talking about?'
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Rebecca Sharp
20/6/2018 10:19:34 am
Great post Nick. Being sufficiently unclear is and should be a staple of brain friendly learning methodology. I’ve noticed it really supporting curiosity in the “classroom” and increasing learning capacity. I’ve found the more I’m developing my conversational intelligence, the less prescriptive I’m becoming.
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Nick Wright
20/6/2018 10:20:29 am
Thanks Rebecca. In my experience, curiosity is key!
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Jonathan Streeton
20/6/2018 10:21:32 am
Thank you Nick for sharing.
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Nick Wright
20/6/2018 10:21:51 am
Thanks Jonathan. You're welcome.
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Hassan M Ahmed
20/6/2018 02:25:24 pm
Thanks for sharing, Nick... In my school, we were told the teachers' jobs where not to tell what to think, but rather... how to think (figure out, interpret).
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Nick Wright
20/6/2018 02:27:26 pm
Hi Hassan. I think you have provided a great description of 'co-active leadership' - leadership with a coaching ethos and style.
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Iniobong Ukpabio
20/6/2018 08:27:46 pm
Fascinating. Personally,I have practiced this technique in the past and I must honestly say I have had mixed results depending much on the individual or group of individuals' orientation.
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Nick Wright
20/6/2018 08:28:13 pm
Hi Iniobong. I'm curious. Can you say more..?
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Serena Low 刘善明
24/6/2018 12:18:18 pm
Thank you for sharing this insight Nick! Being comfortable with not knowing can be a gateway to courageous action. I will have this question handy when coaching my clients - "Are you sufficiently unclear?"
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Nick Wright
24/6/2018 12:19:39 pm
Thank you, Serena! On the theme of not-knowing, you may find this short related piece interesting? http://www.nick-wright.com/blog/not-knowing
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Nick WrightI'm a psychological coach, trainer and OD consultant. Curious to discover how can I help you? Get in touch! Like what you read? Simply enter your email address below to receive regular blog updates!
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