Deconstructing Knuffle Bunny and its lessons on voices less privileged

Welcome to the fourth edition of #TurnThePage – increasing change literacy one children’s book at a time.?In our first three editions, we deconstructed “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” with its lessons on resistance to change, ?“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” with its lessons on systems thinking, and “Room on the Broom”, with its lessons on diversity, belonging and crises.

Today, we are deconstructing a most classic a children’s book, “Knuffle Bunny,” by Mo Willems, with lessons on ….

1. COMMUNICATION:?its dynamics and the outcome of its breakdown
2. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ACTIVE LISTENING:?across all channels, with empathy and curiosity
3. THE DYNAMICS OF VOICES LESS PRIVILEDGED:?and the imperative of creating spaces and structures to scaffold those voices to empower them

SYNOPSIS

Trixie is a little girl who goes on an errand to the laundromat with her father in Brooklyn, with her favorite lovie (Knuffle Bunny) in tow. ?On the way home, when she realizes that she left her bunny at the laundromat, she does everything she can to communicate this to her father, to no avail, impaired by her not yet having learned to talk.??Upon arriving back home, her mother immediately realizes Knuffle Bunny is missing, prompting the family to rush to the laundromat, eventually finding Trixie’s beloved stuffed animal and cueing her first words, “Knuffle Bunny!”

Character breakdown:

• The dad = the organization or an initiative leader
• Trixie = the under-represented; those with less power
• Knuffle bunny = core human need
• Mom = source of understanding and “seeing” (ally or sponsor)

By the mere juxtaposition of real photo backgrounds of the city with drawn illustrations of the characters, the book readily invites us to look beyond the fictional construct of a normal children’s book and look for deeper lessons than may readily be apparent.?… and we aim to do just that!

DECONSTRUCTIVE LITERARY ANALYSIS

COMMUNICATION

George Bernard Shaw has said: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”?Indeed, this is evidenced for both Trixie, who tries her darndest to communicate the loss of her bunny, and her father who tries to convince her to go back home.?The situation highlights that communication is a two way street:?the one looking to convey a message, and the one receiving and reacting to it.

We see clearly the breakdown that occurs when communication fails:?temper tantrums, high emotions, and outright resistance.?

The impasse highlights the broader notion that we, of course, don’t interpret words in the same way; language that may hold a certain meaning for us may hold an entirely different meaning for others.?That’s why, especially in organizational and leadership communication during times of change, it’s so important to align around a central narrative through various means, via a diverse set of voices and stories, while providing the critical scaffolds for employees to unpack and internalize their meaning for themselves.?

Why especially during times of change or crises? Because there is so much noise in the system during these times that make it hard to understand, digest or outright hear what is being communicated.?Which leads us to …

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ACTIVE LISTENING (in understanding root cause of resistance)

Importantly, the first act of verbal communication presented in the book is “Aggle flaggle klabble”, Trixie’s initial attempt to alert her father know to her missing bunny. ?As in most organizations, first voices we tend to hear (or hear the most) surface when things go wrong, when there is a sense of loss.?The voices often manifest as resistance to some effort based precisely on that perceived sense of loss:?of status, of certainty, of autonomy, relatedness or fairness (#SCARF).

Our typical listening | What we hear most often occurs through the lens of what we expect to hear, and we presume we understand what’s being said.?“That’s right – we’re going home,” the father says confidently, despite his being completely off the mark.?Our listening generally occurs in relation to our own points of view, waiting our turn to speak our minds and merely justify our position.

Empathy as entry-point | In this case, the father’s empathy is altogether missing, making no attempt to understand the root cause of Trixie’s “resistance”. ?Although Trixie tries using different words to convey her situation, he provides a blunt “don’t get fussy”, dragging her by the arm as she kicks and screams her way home. ?Instead, active listening requires empathy and curiosity, seeking to understand and asking questions before reacting. ?

Listening across various “channels” | Trixie shows us how communication occurs across various channels:?verbal (her babbling, however unintelligible, physical (waving arms, boneless body), emotional (panicked face, crying).?Therefore, organizational and leadership listening must include non-verbal elements such as employee behaviors, actions, interactions and engagement.?

Similarly, leaders should take note that their communication TO their employees, and the employee listening of it, unfolds through the things they say and don’t say, what they do and don’t do, and the micro-signaling that occurs through their patterns of behavior.

THE NATURE OF VOICES OF THOSE LESS PRIVILEGED

The book interestingly surfaces the disproportionate weight of those with “power” and agency against others who don’t have it.?Using one’s voice when in an inferior position becomes extra challenging (in this case – Trixie is young, small and can’t yet speak.)

For organizations, this means listening and reacting is just not enough.?To take responsibility, they must intentionally create structures and spaces that actively scaffold voices of URMs, voices of dissent, and voices of provocation. Without that intentionality, the only real hearing that can occur is that of the bias-driven, power-defined echo chamber.

LITERARY ANALYISIS GONE WILD

The book meaningfully begins and ends with the power of voice, the power of words:

• In the very first page and sentence with “before she could even speak words”,?and
• In the very last page and sentence with “those were the first words Trixie ever said.”

Quite notably, her first words are spoken, are “allowed” to come into being, when she is first truly “seen and heard”, and when her sense of loss (of identity through Knuffle Bunny) is rectified.?

People’s empowerment to use their voices comes from being seen and being understood … by others. The book raises the question of whether having a voice is even truly possible without those prerequisites.???It takes two, much like a literal voice impacts the mouth of one and the ear of another. The very power of seeing and understanding others gives them a voice, verbal or otherwise.?And without that “partnership” and reciprocation of seeing and understanding them, they become invisible, “resistant”, or irrelevant.

Trixie’s initial voice was irrelevant until her mother’s understanding of her made it matter: “Where’s Knuffle Bunny?”.?She stopped crying as soon as she felt seen. She spoke her first words when her identity was restored and honored.

To end this analysis on a provocative note:?could it be that Trixie had spoken actual words all along and it was only the shifted listening of the parents that enabled their hearing them??