“We’re goin’ on a constraint hunt”
Ever been asked to find constraints? No, not just the obvious ones. Also the ones you keep chasing after until you have discovered the hidden and subtle ones, even those no one has ever said out loud.
An experienced treasure hunter always starts his quest by asking this critical question: Am I after good or evil? It’s as much about «too little» as it is about «too much». Tons of money is likely to blur your vision, whereas «too little» might prevent you from getting to see anything.
When presented with this challenge in a project, I was left in a state of confusion. Others made it sound like identifying and conquering «the enemy». Yet, wasn’t the constraint the unsung hero? Only after we had identified or arbitrarily set a constraint in a previous project, did the creative ideas emerge.
Having committed to treating my constraints much more respectfully than you would naturally treat your enemy, I then had to eliminate the usual suspects such as «time» (rather the opposite), «money» (plentiful) and «resources» (sufficient) plus others such as «skills» (not an issue at this stage of my project) and «willingness to make decisions» (yet to be seen on whether or not we would be willing to decide on following through on the outcome of the project).
Luckily, I had been whispered not to answer such questions just with my mind, but with all senses.
Rationally, I was guilty of withholding important evidence related to my project. That was deliberate. For once, I took my chances to leave huge analytical gaps, while focusing on the emotional part. It felt right and still does.
Fear Constraint — how scared are we of change? Less (rather than more in this particular case) would mean that we acknowledged our fear and didn’t let it dominate our thinking and acting. Better would clearly mean that we try to dance with the fear and make use of its energy.
Heart and Soul Constraint — are we willing to engage ourselves as if our life depended on it? More would would involve emotional labour in addition to just investing time and «brain juice». Better, on the other hand, would align our common purpose («Why») with the project goal.
Boldness Constraint — how bold and radical are we in generating ideas for our new business model? More would mean to widen the range of «what we can imagine» significantly, while the equivalent of better would deliberately target the edges.
Commitment Constraint — how do we make this everybody’s most important (not necessarily most urgent) project? More would result in everybody consciously commiting time to this project individually, whereas better would see more active interexchange both within the team and outside.
This outcome of my analysis was rather unexpected. A true novelty to be honest. I allowed my feelings to take the lead over my thoughts. It wasn’t the one or the other. It was one leaping with the other contributing generously trying not to interfere.
Come on, you might say, don’t all of these constraints look the same? I am pretty certain they do. However, only intelectually could you even attempt to «consolidate» them. Emotionally, you would notice the subtle differences and how they influenced your or someone else’s behaviour.
Does that mean that I was rationally emotional for a change rather than the usual emotionally rational? Not trying to play a word game here, just appreciating an important variation between the two.
No idea what I am talking about.
Experiencing is believing.
