It was around the 87-minute mark when my 30-minute meeting started to wrap up.
I thought we had exhausted the topic and come to an agreement, but no, I was mistaken.
We talked for another 17 minutes, followed by three rounds of emails, a second hour-long meeting with someone else who ‘needed to be pulled in’, another volley of ‘reply all’ emails to confirm the second meeting occurred, and then nothing for three weeks.
I had a general sense that everything was fine, but without a definitive answer I couldn’t proceed.
Stuck in heck-I-don’t-know-where-this-stands with a devil enamoured with the details.
Meme-ready angry protesters and bombastic media personalities may dominate the public debate around contentious and controversial issues but in my experience, it isn’t the enemies at the gate we need to worry about; the true enemies of change are likely already in the room.
I call them the Chorus, the people who are supremely effective at being ineffective.
They are one of four personality types in my Wicked Cast of Characters, which reframes wicked problems via relationships rather than issues.
The goal of the Cast of Characters is to identify the people who:
- see a shared benefit in helping and supporting you; and,
- have the skillset most valued in a network: the ability to facilitate, convene and share money, people, information and ideas.
The Cast of Characters includes:
- Recipients, the people you directly serve through your work;
- Gatekeepers, the people who have the legal authority to stop or help you;
- Chorus, the people who undermine your work; and,
- Connectors, the people who want to help you because of a shared set of values and the identification of shared benefits in working together.
When we work to shift power, titles don’t matter as much as intent.
That runs counter to the way most of us think about power dynamics and decision-making.
Normally, we’d focus on people’s titles as indicators of their ability to move files, but that’s the standard operating procedure for working within a traditional hierarchical structure, which values control, command, order and fixedness to address issues that can be reliably solved.
But we don’t live and work in that world anymore; solving problems will now happen in and with networks, which value access, exchange, speed and mobility.
This means we need to focus on understanding and capitalizing on how people move through networks.
We need to focus on the people with whom we share values, and who can recognize the shared benefits in working together. That’s your Connectors and their titles are immaterial.
That’s the opposite of what the Chorus does.
Inspired by the narrative nature of the Greek chorus in classical plays and the chorus in American musicals, both of which comment on but don’t participate in the main action, your Wicked Chorus are the people whose lips are flapping but they ain’t helping.
Your Chorus could be anywhere.
It could be the co-worker or manager who wishes you luck but tells you they doubt you’ll succeed.
It’s the stakeholder who attends all the meetings, nods in agreement and then undermines you once they’re out of the room.
It’s the vested interest who is blithely incapable of seeing past their own self-interest.
It’s the team member who offers to help and then misses their deadlines, does a shoddy job and doesn’t seem to learn from their mistakes.
And yes, it also includes the protesters, lobbyists and media personalities who don’t hide their contempt for you and vow to stop you.
The cumulative effect of all that incompetence, unreliability, self-interest, ego and ill will is what builds your Wicked Wall of Resistance – if you allow it to happen.
Here’s the important thing to remember about the Chorus. When you focus on the Chorus, they become the focus. You spend all your energy responding to them because they are the naysayers you know – and that bugs you.
What you need to do is stop, step back and decide to ignore the Chorus, because they are taking your time and attention away from identifying and working with your Connectors.
Don’t let the Chorus drain your power; instead, reach for Connectors and share it.
