Driving any work forward and making progress is difficult. When there are individual people and feelings involved (as there always are) it makes it even more difficult. In the past few months, I have used what I will call observation and interpretation mapping to help me and others focus on the work and less on the people involved in it.
Lately I have taken an interest in strategy and had an opportunity to squeeze my way into strategic conversations with some more senior leaders in the organization. I had to push and be diligent in understanding the various variables we were dealing with because with my role in the organization, I was not a natural part of the rhythm of business meetings where some of the strategic elements were discussed.
As I continued to push to make progress on the strategy work, I started to make observations that were curious to me. Observations are what we see in the system in which we operate, and they do not carry with them judgment. In practice, when sharing observations with others there should be almost no chance it can be argued. Observations are simply statements of fact. Examples of observations can look like this:
- In the document we are collaborating on there are less than 3 comments/changes from the leadership team
- A decision has not been made regarding X
Interpretations then are how we view or interpret these observations. These are filled with judgment and riddled with bias. We cannot avoid interpretations; they are critical to move work forward and to create clarity about what we are seeing. We also must recognize the inherent risk in interpretations without proper perspective.
This is where observation and interpretation mapping come in. Create a table that has two columns. The first column contains your observations, and the second column contains your interpretations.
I created this table for the strategy work and shared it with my colleagues. The dialogue that resulted was outstanding. We were able to discuss the work and the interesting dynamics that we were observing that was preventing the work from moving forward. Those conversations also revealed information that changed and shaped my interpretations.
Observation and interpretation mapping is a powerful exercise for anyone seeking to make progress on a project that feels like it is hard to get traction. This works as an individual as well. Today you are working on something to become better – what are your observations of that effort? Write down your interpretations of those observations. You may find assumptions or interpretations that you are making that should be challenged to ensure you make progress.
