How to Avoid Making Camels
One turn of the wheel and my car, with me in it, would have been in the ditch and it would be a long walk home followed by a very awkward conversation with my father.
Home was Aberystwyth, Wales and this is how at the age of 20 I found myself on the side of a dark, Welsh country lane at 4am, parked tightly between 2 cars and a 5 foot drop yelling, ‘One voice, people, I need ONE voice – and preferably one that knows how to drive!’.
As the only one with a car I was yet again the designated driver, surrounded by a bunch of university friends who had definitely had more than a drink or two while I remained sober. Yet now, despite a complete lack of driver’s license and only a current rudimentary grip on the steering wheel of consciousness by most of them, they felt perfectly able to loudly and simultaneously instruct me in how to extract myself from this parking dilemma.
The clash of noise, the conflicting opinions, a cacophony of volume; all meant I could not focus but I knew I needed help since I primarily only held the internal view. I could only glimpse part of the external world through my rear view mirror and wing mirrors. There were major blind spots. Then I chose one of them, the person who (somewhat thankfully) was the most together and did actually have driving experience.
Calmly he and I worked together, while the rest kept their mouths shut, and at last my car was ready to take on its passengers and wend our weary way home.
As I drove home, still in one piece, I thought of an expression I’d heard of once before and which I’ve often thought about since.
A camel is a horse designed by committee - Alec Issigonis
As Wiktionary states:
This is an expression critical of committees—or by analogy, group decision-making—by emphasizing the ineffectiveness of incorporating too many conflicting opinions into a single project. In this figure of speech, the distinguishing features of a camel, such as its humps and poor temperament, are taken to be the deformities that resulted from its poor design.
So how can one avoid making a camel when you meant to design a horse? Here are a couple of ways…
Calling for a Leader!
Just like in my example above, at some point someone brave has to shout above the rest and call for calm and for there to be one voice. Sometimes they even have to say who that voice should be.
The factors for success in this approach are:
? Someone speaking up for the greater good, even when they may not have authority but can exert influence
? Someone taking on the leader role; whether that’s just someone emerging from the shadows as the leader or the person with authority giving renewed direction
? Someone taking up the follower role and doing the ‘doing’
? Others stepping back in the interest of completing the task
? Offering support of the ‘doer’ from the side lines when needed – (note: that could be by simply keeping quiet if you had previously been quite vocal!)
? Readiness and availability of others to provide their input when requested
? The team finding and expressing themselves through one unified voice
Tag-teaming
If you’ve ever watched Masterchef Canada (or even WWE) you’ll know that on occasion they undertake a tag-team match. If you’re not familiar with the concept then, in brief, people work in pairs or more to cook a dish in a designated amount of time and every 5 minutes or so they swap over.
The keys to success here are:
? a joint understanding of the direction
? a shared expected/desired result
? a clear and understood process
? clarity of communication
? being able to alternate between being the leader and being the follower
? knowing when to be active and when to be passive in a timely manner
? keeping up with the flow of information
? adapting quickly to the changing, progressive situation
? putting aside personal opinions to achieve the objective
What other ways have you avoided creating a camel when you intended a horse? I’d love to hear your stories!
Please feel free to comment below.
Joanna Jack #WhatIsLifeWithoutWonder #becurious #AgentForChange