Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

I can introduce problems by asking others to consider a specific example. Often, a general example works better.

Years ago, author and consultant Jerry Weinberg was leading a session on how to lead sessions. Jerry began with, “feel the sand between your toes on the exotic beach with the surf gently sounding in your ears.”

Then Jerry asked us to open our eyes and see the pained expression on the face of one of the women in the session. Jerry knew that she hated sand. Sand between the toes was torture.

Years later, I was at a session hosted by one of America’s highest-esteemed universities. The leader of the session provided a specific example of an analysis situation and asked that we work towards a solution. Two hours later, some participants were arguing the fine points of analysis and such instead of considering the point of the exercise.

These were cases where a specific example ruined things. People focused on the specifics of sand and analysis instead of on solving problems.

A better technique would be to speak in general terms such as:

Imagine the best place you want to be…

Imagine the mess you have and how a group of strangers might fix it…

Specific is good in most cases. Specific is bad when it can lead people off the tracks into endless arguments. We can do better.