Space to Village: Moving Forward in Ambiguous Environments

My co-workers will tell you this: anytime someone asks for help defining an ambiguous problem, or wants more information about something not yet defined, I will always start my response with, “So how much do you know about the Oort Cloud?”?

Named by astronomer Jan Oort, who first proposed it in 1950, the Oort Cloud is basically the outer edge of our solar system.

Here are a few things we do know about the Oort Cloud:

• It’s really, really far away.
• Stuff found in the Oort Cloud may not travel in the same direction as rocks in the Asteroid Belt or how we’re used to thinking about planet orbiting the sun.?
• Astronomers think comets are born here, among the minerals and other building blocks of our solar system.?

And spoiler: it’s an answer in today’s New York Times crossword.??

Clearly a lot of things we don’t know.?

When we think about things in nature we don’t know about, we meet those thoughts with a sense of curiosity and intellectual adventure.

But when we’re dealing with ambiguity at work, it doesn’t usually feel like we’re space-faring astronomers.

Just like the Oort Cloud, our mental environment can be thick with icy debris.

Three? Ways To Navigate Our Personal Oort Cloud

Restate the Goal

How many meetings have you been in lately where its clear the attendees don’t know why they’re there, or it’s obvious that the group has lost the plot??

That’s a moment when the team is clearly moving in different directions. It may seem silly or even like you’re wasting time, but in my view, restating the goal of why everyone is gathered in this setting is a good way to ground everyone on what needs to be accomplished.?

What Do We Know

When we’re working on a confusing or complex project, we can get overwhelmed by too many details if we’re not mindful. For me, it can help to take stock of all the information we do have. Whether done as an individual exercise, or as a group or even an audit of our resources.?

When I look back on what I wish I had done at the beginning of a new job, doing an asset audit—a review of all of the content we have, what’s live now, and what we may need to renew talent usage rights for—that’s the stuff you always end up needing to know urgently. It never fails.

If All Else Fails, Ask for Help

I hear people often say “rocks, not pebbles,” – meaning to sort the priority tactics from the less important tasks. Guess what: just like the Oort Cloud, our mental environment can be thick with icy debris. Sometimes, asking a colleague to help as an accountability partner or a thought partner is a great way to organize your tasks around an outcome. And here is a shout-out to my neuro-divergent peeps: your brain is bold and beautiful - do not let any neuro-typical person make you feel less than because they can’t visualize the hundreds of interconnected points on a scatter map when they can only visualize a straight line.?

A caveat for this: when asking for help, make sure the person you’re asking is an emotionally safe person. In writing this, I’m hoping that you have never been burned by someone who claimed to be supportive of you, but then later exploited your vulnerability. If that’s happened to you, I’m sorry.

What suggestions do you have for navigating ambiguity? Share your tips and thoughts in the comments. We love that you subscribe and we love hearing from you.??