What Next?

Thursday 26th September 3.20pm

To summarise, I recently decided to sign up for another four articles to see me through October. The crumb of comfort is that I am starting this now and it is not due out until a week Sunday.

The bad news, perhaps better described as the reality, is that I have to find something to write about. I heard Anthony Gormley speaking on the radio recently, he is another one who makes me question my own intellect, talking about why he keeps notes. He said two things that struck me, first it was a way of having a conversation with himself and that it was a way of orienting his thinking. Like I said, clever bloke.

Without my customary prevarication, and, desperately trying to avoid the easy option of the current state of politics in the UK, I decide this week’s subject will be, long pause, objectivity. You could have had the Rugby World Cup, my enthusiasm only tainted by my partisan love of the Great Redeemer.

Objectivity it is then, what it means to me and how I use it to orient my thinking. When someone says that an opinion is objective several things are implied. First that it is a considered opinion, normally it is balanced and on a good day, far from normal, it is fair. While it is valid to say that an objective decision is a reasoned decision it is important to remember that there are good and bad reasons.

Objectivity needs some bedfellows, for me it is my two favourites, honesty and moderation. Also, quite important when it comes to an objective, is an amount of realism. There is little point on setting an unachievable objective or indeed one that is easily delivered. Make the objective as simple as possible because like all things it is complicated enough to begin with.

The Why man, was the affectionate nickname I had when I managed a team of 12 salespeople, I assume it was affectionate, although there is some reasonable room for doubt. Apparently, it was my one word follow up question, deployed on a regular basis, and often repeated several times.

It would be fair to say that my gentle nurturing management style was in its infancy and there was an immaturity, even short-sighted aspect, to my method. What can be said in support, however, is that it helped create a culture of clarity. 

Woe betide any of them who turned up for a meeting without a list of subjects to discuss, and, with practice, about three or four suitable levels of detail for when they were inevitably asked why. I did indeed take my own medicine, as fun as it was to put people under, that in itself was not an objective. To have any kind of valuable interaction there had to be a clear objective.

One of the things I would preach, not too strong a word, was that one of the things in our control going into any event was preparation. Further that it was pretty easy to make sure we could think about it more than the party we were meeting with, in advance. This critical preparation would always start the same way, what do we want, why do we want it, and how can we get it? In other words, an objective.

Once you have this clear and beautiful thing the rest is easy, or easier. Without it, success or progress is hard if not impossible. If you don’t know what you want and why, it is almost a lucky accident if you stumble upon how. There are of course degrees, the big why, like win profitable business may be obvious to all but even that should not be assumed.

For any activity, a phone call, an email or any other, the relative success is proportionate to the clarity of the objective. When planning, does the objective sit comfortably within the overall strategy? Is it realistic and as far as is possible have alternative outcomes been anticipated and catered for? 

After the event, was the objective, or objectives, achieved, what is the next step, and can we learn anything to improve performance in the future? 

Saturday 28th September 11.45am

The immediate problem, that is apparent, is what is there that is new to say about objectivity? The logic of spending money on research is something that has always struck me as interesting. Very often people involved in funding research are keen to pin down the objective. Might this be a problem?

A few years ago, I got involved in sponsoring someone to embark on a PhD programme and the question of the benefits of doing so had to be considered and used to justify the expense. Objectivity as usual was the starting point, however, quite reasonably the discussion quickly evolved to our typical old favourites, such as make money for the business, valid in this case?

In search of the optimum objective, research for its own sake became the key question. These things are always difficult and often a compromise position is the best way forward, however, this does not preclude the importance of knowing what the pure objective would ideally be.

Talking of compromise, it is interesting to think about that in the context of being objective. It could be argued that objective people get things done and that if you compromise your objectivity you are diminishing the likelihood of the desired outcome. On the other hand those who are not prepared to compromise often fail to reach agreement. This is when moderation comes in.

The balance you are trying to strike is between idealism and practicality. The difficulty is that in most scenarios the situation is changing on a pretty constant basis and as such the sweet spot is also changing. Infinite complexity offers infinite opportunity, however, in order to take advantage of this, clarity is necessary and a challenge.

Sunday 29th September 1.08pm

Control the controllable factors. There are many and even the ones that you do control are often in conflict with each other. Even something that seems as clear as objectivity can fall into that category, somewhere on the spectrum it has the potential to be short-sighted.

Mistakes are inevitable too, if you do not have setbacks it probably means that you lack ambition. Winning, one at a time, is something we all strive to do but the more controllable ambition is to improve. We are in a competitive world and what is often required is the continual refinement of our process. Learning lessons, win or lose is key to the process of improvement.

The secret might be out, I am a big fan of writing things down. Getting the objective right is obviously quite important. Being precise, and as far as possible economic, with your language is a very important aspect of objectivity. Write down the objective and then interrogate yourself to make sure it captures the essential elements.

Being objective is no more or less important from a team or an individual point of view. There is an argument that when in a team environment that it also makes a positive contribution to communication and as such, again, clarity.

Monday 30th September 1.46pm

Are objective people born or made? The regular argument that distinguishes between nature and nurture and the simple conclusions we can take apply. A natural and an individual who has no empathy for the subject both benefit from nurture.

I think most people who know me would suggest that I am objective, they might add to a fault. The structure I create around myself to feel comfortable is all about clarity and that is all about objectivity. I once participated in a recorded event, to analyse the typical nature of the questions I asked, the category that stood out was testing understanding. It was not so much that the others in the meeting did not agree, more that I felt the need to make sure. 

What happens if you come up against someone who is also objective? You can either fight, not recommended, or agree that the approach you have is logical and that we would both be happy to engage on that basis. If such a person raises an objection they are, by definition, raising a valid point.

Tuesday 1st October 8.40am

It is too tempting, whilst talking about being objective, to take a quick tangent and also explore objection handling. There is a pretty simple technique, acknowledge the question, change it to something else and close. If you watch or listen to any politician being interviewed it is easy to see what a popular method, it is. 

Your solution is too expensive, as an example, invites the following response, I am glad that you raised that (acknowledge the question), it suggest to me that the business case needs to be compelling (change it to something else), can we agree to work together to make that case as strong as possible? (close).

This is obviously a very simple example and deliberately in order to illustrate the point. Another way of acknowledging a question is to listen, stay silent and really think about the question and what may be behind it. Technique will only get you so far in any pursuit, it obviously helps, but it is never a valid replacement for logic.

When facing an objection, the first thing to decide is what type of objection you are dealing with. When I am involved in a contract negotiation, and where the terms and conditions that the client I am representing are the basis for the agreement, ignoring objections as a first pass is often the strategy. 

The prospect, or their legal representative, would typically come up with a long list of changes they would like, laying out their position. This is often an exercise in bluff and counter bluff. By the time you get to contract negotiation you are pretty far down the sales cycle, the common joke at this time is can we steal defeat from the jaws of victory.

Being objective, always a good idea, may need a subtle shift when it comes to objection handling. Keeping an eye on the prize, the overall objective, is important and seeing that in the context of everything else including areas where compromise is possible is a valuable method.

Put yourself in the shoes of the other person, what do they want, what is their personal win, to some extent they need to be the hero of this little saga, you are essentially selling a vision and that vision is easier to sell if the person you are selling to has a starring role.

The life of an objective person is not all plain sailing. Objective good, objectionable bad, if you don’t have interpersonal skills you had better learn to fake them as quickly as you can. People really do buy from people they like and getting them to like you and being objective at the same time is the difficult balance that you need to strike.

I am objective with everyone and everything, the rules of engagement are arguably too important to me, I need a good reason to do anything and if I cannot work out what that good reason is then the activity or engagement is not worth the effort. 

Tuesday 1st October 1.14pm

Dance around the subject or pin it to the floor

The light at the end of the tunnel is the 11.54

Everybody gets on board, no one too unkind

The pure lead the way, the leaders left behind

Asking for clarification, we need to know the rules  

As the leaders protect their interest, fearing the fools

Surely it is simple, be fair to one and all

We stand up for the future in the autumn of our fall

Wednesday 2nd October 7.52am

A contradictory position is often a good indicator of a lack of objectivity or more accurately of a hidden objective. A current example might be Boris Johnson saying that he will comply with the law that forbids leaving the European Union without a deal and saying that he, and therefore we, will leave at the end of October come what may. There is inconsistency and therefore the true objective should be questioned.

I often start a meeting by trying to gain agreement what the objective of the meeting is. If a conflict of opinions exists that should be resolved before we all waste too much time just talking. Having a clear objective is important and, in my opinion, if that objective needs to be hidden life gets a lot harder for everyone. 

Truth is unusual. What does someone really want? Can we rely on the real motives of those we engage with? All of these cynical but generally accepted norms make achieving any objective harder. The answer even accepting that the goal may be idealistic is to make a positive contribution. Take the moral high ground and by setting an example move the needle in the right direction.

We communicate all the time at all levels of business and social interaction. For the vast majority of social engagements most are happy to participate without an objective, being too objective can even be considered selfish. Is the real objective to get what you want or to self-sacrifice, on occasion, in the interest of the relationship and your contribution to it?

Thursday 3rd October 7.40am

When it comes to the business world there is, and always has been, a lack of objectivity. In order to get something done firstly you need to be clear about what you want and the more detail you can have for a plan to achieve it the better. 

Start every meeting with the clarification and agreement from all attendees on the objective of said meeting. A meeting without an agenda is a chat. In preparation for a meeting think about the objectives of those attending and make sure your agenda addresses them. There is a value in starting by stating these and essentially giving notice that agreeing a way forward, often described as a call to action, is the only way to quantify progress.

It does not escape me that these articles lack objectivity, the perennial question of why, whilst explored, has not been resolved. I would say that objectivity is akin to painting the Forth Bridge but apparently that continuous process is no longer necessary, and as such not valid. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for objectivity, as important as clarification is a constant review process.

As the Welsh rugby team prepare to torture me over the next few weeks it occurs to me that they have a plan. Often, I hear the phrase, if we look after performance the result will look after itself, this cliché like most seems flawed to me. The objective is to win and perform well but for clarity, if you have to choose, winning is the primary goal. 

This simple example reveals that often an objective can be broken down into many smaller objectives. I accept that this is the case but argue that progress is more likely if the approach is as simple as possible, therefore the smaller the number the better.

I adopt simplicity as the preferred approach and as part of this I am keen to separate what and how. An easy habit to fall into is how we achieve something before we have fully tied down what we are trying to achieve, this can add complexity to an already complex question and as such should be avoided. 

I consider myself to be a very objective oriented person and that given my chosen vocation this is a strength. On the other hand, I fear that this strength has a masochistic element. To pin down the perfect objective is only possible at the macro level, and, as soon as you begin to explore the detail perfection is never available as an option. Get as close as you can and then constantly check.

Saturday 5th October 8.56am

The answer is being objective, the question is the variable. Passion and desire are not only critical they are the only source of satisfaction and enjoyment. Without this emotional aspect success is hollow, victory sour. This begs the question is mindset more important than objectivity, no, desire is pointless without direction.

In a complicated world where we are trying to move forward it is inevitable that there will be good days and bad. Even for those of us who are lucky enough to default to highly motivated there are days when we just don’t feel it. Over the hill, riding to the rescue, once again objectivity saves the day.

A simple rule of thumb that can be applied at any time and in any circumstance, what’s next. Of the myriad of possible options what is the very next thing I will spend my time on. This process of infinite to one, not the first step but the next, best efforts made to select the correct direction and then act. 

To be objective is to be clear and precise, misdirected effort is the worst type of activity. Effort requires energy and wasted energy is arguably the biggest crime. Without clear decision making you not only don’t make progress towards your goal but actually away from it.

In the absence of a clear objective all you can do is look for it. Turn up, do the best you can to dismiss the illusion of an effortless victory or the despair of certain defeat. The answer is clear, seek clarity. If you can answer what you want, why you want it and how you plan to get it, as far as I am concerned you are good to go as far as objectivity is concerned. 

As I finish another article it feels like finishing the week. It hasn’t been the best of weeks, they can’t all be, but the end of a bad week allows the beginning of a good one. I have another article to write and would like to rediscover the secret of what makes it easy, I think it is picking the right subject. 

I plan to start the next article no later than first thing Monday morning; in fact, I will not start until then. The trick, and the reason for the enforced delay, is to at least give myself the chance of getting the right subject, I can spend the time before then thinking about what that might be.

I have laboured the point. Throughout this article I have said basically the same thing in a variety of ways in order to eat up words but not shed any new light, I apologise. It is an important subject and despite the weakness of this article I still believe I have something to contribute to the debate, if only because I have spent a long time thinking about it.

I am not sure if the word target is a blessing or a curse. I am stuck with it to the end of October so perhaps now is not a good time to question it. I wonder if this week’s subject is objectivity because I am going through a phase of not being as objective as I normally am or would like to be?

This may be the summary I am looking for, as someone who considers myself to be objective, driven and who will regularly extol the virtues of objectivity to any and all, I have to admit there are challenges. The first is that thinking about the objective steals time from actions towards it, the potential for analysis paralysis.

My least favourite aspect of objectivity is its elusive nature. The accuracy of the objective is seldom definitive, as soon as you get past the highest level, and, as the endless pursuit continues, the courage of your convictions does battle with the insecurity of intuition.

I have given myself the rest of the day off, early release for good behaviour. I have promised myself to do a bit tomorrow and am confident that I will turn up. I have a long list of things to do and unfortunately quite a few require thinking. 

Sunday 6th October 10.00am

As I limp over the line, I am glad to finish, writing is harder than I had assumed. There are two key elements neither of which I have mastered. Getting the right subject is key and the structure of how best to communicate the point I am trying to make, the other. This is an example of what I produce if I neglect both.

I like to think I am learning, getting more of an idea about the approach necessary to produce something that has value. For the avoidance of doubt, this is not it. I have three more to do before I can review the rules but for this week, over and out.

Martyn Richards works for Wishful Thinking Fundamentals Ltd and is a Mentor to a range of technology clients.