Fostering adaptability in teams
Ambiguity amplifies the need to build flexibility into our way of working. Photo by Tommy Lisbin on Unsplash
In an episode of the US version of The Office, Michael Scott, the insecure and incompetent boss of Dunder Mifflin, is driving a rental car with his colleague, Dwight. They are in an unfamiliar territory and as a result, their navigation is done purely through the GPS system. At one point, the instruction from the GPS is to turn right and the two of them get into an argument. Dwight thinks it’s a bad idea. Michael is determined to follow the instructions. He yells, ‘The machine knows!!!’.
Then he drives into a lake.
It’s a pretty funny incident and one that we would like to believe only happens in the fictionalised world of TV comedy. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. There are regular news stories from around the world of how people unquestioningly follow the instructions of their GPS into lakes, rivers or buildings.
While there is an argument to be made that the GPS systems could be more accurate, they cannot be expected to be 100% accurate and up to the second (although they are even better now with traffic level indicators and so on). It is not unreasonable to ask drivers to respond to what is in front of them. A GPS provides highly reliable direction based on the information available at the time. The safety of the vehicle still relies on the driver taking responsibility, being aware and responsive to what is around them.
The same applies in our teams. We can easily get ourselves into trouble by relying too heavily on information that can't be fully accurate.
In the simplest terms, high performance boils down to things:
Making the right decisions
Taking the right actions
In known, stable and predictable environments this is pretty straightforward. When the world gets a bit VUCA on us, it's less so. Ambiguity challenges our individual and collective desire to have certainty - about what is happening and about the best actions to take. Inherently, dealing with an ambiguous situation makes it difficult (sometimes impossible) to have the clarity we seek. Ambiguity amplifies the need to build flexibility into our way of working.
Adaptable teams are able to apply a version of the following three questions. They are simple (as the best questions often are) and provide help that you could use with your teams. Of course, if they don't work, try something else!
What happened?
So what sense do we make of this?
Now what do we think is the best course of action?