Learning Activity: Paradox Castle

Leaders must face what can feel like an endless series of paradoxes. Struggling to hold onto truths that tend to clash yet remain both valid is excellent training for the need to make careful strategic, compassionate, courageous decisions.

Purpose:
Explore the impact on perception of paradox and its implications for achieving success.

Materials:
Large prints, posters, or slides of paints by M.C. Escher (and other painters with a flair for painting paradoxical situations.)

Process

Discuss the meaning of paradox. Ask: What are some examples of paradox in your world? In movies? In art? In leadership?
Show two or more works of paradoxical art. Allow several minutes of silent reflection.
Break into groups of four who must silently depict the motions of a day in the mental world of the painters presented, taking care to bring out a sense of paradox. Stress the silence. (Allow several minutes. If a group struggles, silently signal them to quietly provide musical / percussion background for another group. They may struggle with this as well - it helps to prepare your group with previous musical improvisation exercises. You could also play atmospheric music in the back ground, something meditative.)

Debrief:

What are the visual cues of paradox?
What are the benefits of embracing a sense of paradox?
What transforming processes might tease-out more precise and concrete meaning from a paradox?
What does paradox look like in the business world? In the not-for-profit world? In education? Theological world? World of interpersonal relationships?
What can you do with this new sense of paradox to enhance or transform one of your important relationships?

Image retrieved 27 December 2018 at:

https://www.mcescher.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/LW389-MC-Escher-Relativity-19531.jpg

Image retrieved 27 December 2018 at:

https://www.baystatebanner.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Escher4-1024x683.jpg

"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."

-- Carl R. Rogers, On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy

"All generalizations are false, including this one."
-- Albert Einstein

"This Is Not a Pipe" image retrieved 27 December 2018 from:

http://www.ecs.csun.edu/~cputnam/Comp300/Overheads/chapter4/04files/pipe.jpg

Comments

Miracle Service?

Training is important. Service is a priority. But you just can't train someone to provide great service and satisfy a customer if the product is bad. Maybe for a moment, but not for long can you keep anyone smiling when the product is poking them in the eye. The best customer service rep in the world can't fix a bad product. Once you realize that you're dealing with a bad product there's no reason to be angry with the service rep. They know it's bad, too. They'd fix it if they could. They likely can't. When the product is bad, find a better product. -- doug smith Training Activity What if that assumption is incorrect? What if you really can make things better with superior service, even when the product is broken beyond repair? What would that look like? What would you train your people to say? What would it look like for someone to create such a great relationship with a customer that the product was inconsequential?

Follow The Script?

Have you ever had a conversation with a customer service representative and you could tell that they were simply following a script? How did you feel about that? Sometimes the script works, but usually it doesn't feel human to the customer. As we get more and more responses from actual robots, it's worth considering how much better we can give human responses as humans. Quick Service Do's and Don'ts: Don't just follow a script when you hear it's not working. Don't assume that the customer is wrong. Don't take it personally when the customer gets upset. Don't argue with the customer. Instead, do these: Do listen to understand the customer's needs. Do empathize with the customer. Do collaborate rather than dictate. Do think creatively, even if you need to pause, in order to find better answers. That's not the whole list, of course, but it's a useful place to start. No matter who we're talking to we should always be better than a robot...

Something Else

We do it frequently -- blame people for what's wrong. And when we blame people for something they did not cause it often makes things worse because now they feel bad about it and maybe even defensive. Even though it feels like people get i the way of perfection, it's usually something else. Fix the process. Fix the rule. Fix the presentation. Fix the product. People are better than we realize, and seldom to blame for service breakdowns. -- doug smith Training Activity Make a list of the three most recent service breakdowns that you have experienced. For each breakdown, score on a scale of 1 - 10 how much of that breakdown was caused by: Process Rules Presentation Product People Now you know where to start fixing things.

Surprise!

What have been your major changes? What magnificent visions have you had that you eventually released? Sometimes, to make room for the next great thing, we need to let go of the less than great wish we're holding onto. What looks like success at one point in our lives because less convincing as it slips away, hides, or becomes impossible. Life goes on. New dreams form. Greatness always welcomes us to new opportunities. If your vision of success changes, that is also success. You are now free to be great (and happy) in another direction. Life goes on; the joy in it is up to you. -- doug smith

Improving

Expecting good people to be perfect is expecting too much but expecting them to constantly improve is reasonable. Expecting everyone to constantly is reasonable. How can you as a leader make that happen? 1. Tell your people that it (constant improvement) is your expectation. 2. Support your people in their development. Give them the training you know they need AND the training that they ask for. 3. Coach at every opportunity. Check in on their goals. Ask about their progress. Ask how you can help. The good news is the more that you do those three things the more you are also constantly improving. And, there's nothing like walking the talk to get more people improving. -- doug smith

It's Not About The Money

Of course we all need to make money. We earn our profits with honor when we provide goods, services, and care for our customers. It's possible to create a better world AND make money in the process. But, all too often, in that process we encounter problems. In the service of our people (customers, team members, vendors, regulators...) we should solve those problems. Sometimes, companies seek to monetize that process by creating problem situations that beg for solutions, which are then made available for an upgrade with an extra fee. Yuck. Short term that may seem smart but long term it's burning down the house you live in just to warm it up. The minute you monetize problem solving you create more problems. And those problems will be much harder to solve. -- doug smith

A Frustrating Problem

As an old six sigma project manager I firmly believe that most problems are caused by broken processes, not broken people. But let's face it, some people not only don't realize that but they refuse to fix the process. If you know a process is broken, and do nothing to change that, the problem gets worse. If you can solve someone's problem but refuse to, you might be the problem. Don't be the problem. Fix the process, even if you need help. Because there are no perfect processes, but there are lots of people avoiding them. -- doug smith

Positive Choice

Yes or no? Certainly not maybe because that takes you nowhere. Yes or no? I don't always get the answer right, but I feel sure about this: yes is better than a guess. Yes gets us moving. Yes opens doors. Yes starts the experiment and learning begins. Yes is better than a guess. And, if you need to guess, guess yes! -- doug smith

Growth

No one does everything. It's not about achieving everything. You don't need to achieve all of your goals everyday, but achieving any of your goals puts you ahead. What goal are you working on today? -- doug smith

Status

How much of your leadership relies on status? Status can be granted or seized, earned or burned. A frequent cause of conflict, people often compete for status even when they don't realize it. It gives way to one-upping others, to interrupting others, to manipulating others, all in search of some magic elevation to wear the crown. It's usually a figurative crown, but palpable nonetheless. It causes people to take things personally, all in an attempt to raise their personal standing. As high performance leaders, let's take notice. As centered and balanced leaders, let's place status into the proper perspective: it is not who you are. The struggle for status inevitably disappoints. Find the common cause. Create the common ground. Wear the common hat. -- doug smith

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