April 12, 2010PowerPhrase: There’s not one right answer here.
We often go down rabbit holes looking for one right answer, and “trying to get it right.” Sometimes there is a definite right answer – and often there isn’t. The New Communication Dynamics call for knowing when to hone in on one possibility and when to explore many options.
We’re reworking my web site. What is the best design?
- There’s not one right answer here.
We are looking for project/task management software/systems to keep us aligned. What’s the best approach for us?
- There’s not one right answer here.
Looking for the right answer as if there is one proper way to do things encripted in stone keeps us from considering possibilities and has us thinking in terms of embracing or rejecting ideas rather than adapting and integrating them.
I talk about that in the lively discussion about coaching communication alchemy. Sometimes there is a single, concrete and definite answer to a question. Other times we limit ourselves when we think there is. My current home page draft is a combination of approaches that feels like I’m having my cake and eating it too. Ultimately we probably will combine a few tools for our task management. We say,
- There’s not one right answer here. There are infinite possibilities. We need to explore several of them and find solutions and approaches that work.
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“Looking for the right answer as if there is one proper way to do things encripted in stone keeps us from considering possibilities and has us thinking in terms of embracing or rejecting ideas rather than adapting and integrating them.”
All I can say is boy, I wish the politicians in Washington could understand that.
This also puts me in mind of a couple of professions that are called “practices,” such as “practicing medicine” and “practicing law.” There is a good reason we refer to these professions that way — because there is no 100% right way to treat patients and no 100% right way to argue a case. Every patient is different, every case is different, and just when a treatment seems guaranteed to work or the outcome of a case seems guaranteed, a new medical study comes out or a new precedent is set. All we can do when there is no one right answer is to keep practicing. Oh, and the old phrase “practice makes perfect” is so wrong. It should be “practice makes for improvement.”
So instead of trying to find the one “right” answer, maybe we should be asking ourselves, “Is this solution or approach an improvement?”
Comment by Grace — April 14, 2010 @ 10:46 pm
Great comment Grace! I love this: “Practice makes for improvement”. It rings true and honest.
Comment by Ash — April 16, 2010 @ 1:25 pm
Yes – and I’ve also heard, “practice makes permanent.” Of course, that’s only a good thing if we’re practicing habits that serve us!
Grace, your observation about the word practice really strikes me. I hadn’t thought of it that way. On one level it’s a bit unnerving to think that a professional is practicing on us – on the other hand, it’s even more unnerving to know that a professional is practicing on us when they don’t realize it!
I practice on people whenever I write…
Comment by merylrunion — April 16, 2010 @ 4:23 pm