Andy Lykens

Innovating and operating through growth

learning

Unlocking Success: Navigating Nuance in New Endeavors

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When we’re trying something new, it’s important to remember that it’s new to us. New to us doesn’t mean new to everyone and so it may behoove you to look around, ask a few questions, challenge some assumptions, and understand whether you may have access to an expert who can help.

Missing Nuance

It’s easy to forget that being new to something means we don’t know all of the nuance. We think about the thing at a high level and understand the basic components of it, but it’s not until we do a thing over and over again until we start to appreciate all the nooks and crannies.

Let’s take playing a board game for example. You can really only understand a game at a high level at first, usually just enough to be convinced to play. Maybe you’ve heard your friends talk about Settlers of Catan and that it’s “kind of like Monopoly but more complicated.”

Then when you sit down to play, your learning experience starts with friends describing the activities in the game. You have your resource cards, the resources are used to build roads and towns, you can trade your resources, and so on. But at this stage it’d be a mistake to assume that you understand the strategy of the game; you don’t have a real shot of developing a strategy that achieves a desired outcome. It’s possible you’ll win, but that would largely be luck.

The same is true when you’re trying something that’s outside of your direct area of expertise. You understand at a high level what you’re hoping the outcome will be, and you may understand some rules and activities. But if you’re not an expert in the thing, chances are you’re going to make mistakes and your strategy will not get you your desired result. When this happens, we often seek to start doing the thing over again with our same rudimentary understanding of how to do it. That’s a mistake as long as what we’re doing has been done before.

How to improve your outcome

Your job at this point is to figure out what problem you need to correct for, not to immediately start the process of correction. This is especially true if you’re still learning the game. If you’ve already been operating on assumptions and an over-simplified understanding of the strategy, there’s a great chance you can’t pinpoint where your strategy went wrong without the help of someone who knows better. You’re right back where you started.

A common error is to think you made mistakes because you moved too fast. While it is very possible you moved too fast (because you were overlooking nuance), it’d be worth questioning whether you were going in the right direction in the first place.

You can move at great speed building a car engine if you leave out a bunch of steps like screwing on all the bolts or attaching the carburetor, but if you do the same thing next time just slower, your engine still won’t run.

A better way forward

Your best bet isn’t to start making corrections based on the same assumptions that got you to where you are now because you’ll still be left with an engine that doesn’t work. Your best bet is to start back at the beginning and look for your actual mistake.

Here are steps to help diagnose your problem:

  • Start by challenging the assumptions you made in the first place. Ask yourself your level of expertise or what you may still need to learn more about in order to improve your result.
  • Look for someone who has done something similar or who has more expertise than you. Have them weigh-in on your idea and your approach. This could be as simple as asking around your organization or tapping your network.
  • Listen to the team members who worked on the last project. Ask them how it went, and weigh their perspectives. You also need to decide if you have the right people in the room. It’s best to do this in individual conversations to avoid groupthink.
  • Get clear on your expectations. What is your desired outcome? Is it clear enough? Is it too ambitious? Not ambitious enough? The better you can articulate your vision, the more people can get behind it.

Once you’ve laid out the moving pieces, considered new perspectives, and have the right people in the room, communicate your desired outcome to the group. Only after you do the work of understanding the problem will you be able to course correct.

The worst part about this process is that it feels slow and cumbersome. The best part? You won’t be moving fast in the wrong direction anymore.

Speaking the language

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When visiting a foreign country with a language other than your mother tongue, it’s usually a good idea to spend some time learning key phrases. For example, when friends come to Italy most people know the word for “Thank you” (“grazie,” pronounced grat-zee-ay). I usually teach them 3 more words: vorrei questo/quello (pronounced vorr-ay-ee kway-stoe/kway-low). This simple phrase is a polite way to say “I would like this/that” and, in conjunction with pointing, is so handy when you want food, a souvenir, or the quickest way to a restroom.

These simple words go a long way to demonstrate that you care enough to be polite, and are trying to meet people where they are. In fact, you can totally butcher the phrases and people will appreciate you trying. This isn’t because you’re some genius, or because you’re doing something exceedingly well, it’s because you’re doing something that most people don’t even attempt. They’d rather not do the work and have people come to them.

When it comes to work, we have the same opportunity. Not only is there common language amongst our colleagues, but we also have tools, workflows and personalities to understand too. Each of these things requires more effort than the equivalent of showing up and speaking your native tongue in a foreign land.

In all of these situations, between the internet and tour guides (knowledgeable colleagues) it is possible to learn almost anything you need to know in order to meet people halfway.

Are you impressed by someone who’s great with pivot tables? There’s a YouTube video to help you collaborate better. Want to know what the acronym means? Speak up in the meeting (chances are everyone who doesn’t use it every day forgot too). Not sure the best way to integrate business units? Ask the team leads.

So the next time you’re attempting to do pretty much anything, ask yourself: what simple thing can I learn that will set me apart as a conscientious human?