Are you an inny or an outy? Why visioning must be binary

The simple wire-frame sketch above is a Necker cube [Necker, L.A. 1832].

It's a perfect illustration of the criticality of accurate visioning by those leading change and what happens if visioning is incomplete, unclear or absent.

Is the ball in or out? In the complete absence of visual cues each of us must make our own decision and we'll make it based on our mental models [including what we think it should be, whether it was in or out last time around, and critically, whether or not I can build the damn thing on the inside or the outside] and perceived safety [what I think you want me to choose, what my peers are choosing].

The problem is of course that none of those decision making criteria help us make a good choice. Clearly it can't be in and out at the same time so my decision is also risky...maybe I just won't make a decision at all, I'll hedge my bets and keep doing what I'm doing in the hope someone else realises there's a problem.

So what does that mean for you, the leader? If you haven't clearly told your people it's in or out, and if your people haven't told their people then ultimately it means you've created the perfect conditions for people to believe completely different things are true. And the problem there is you've created conditions for people to work as hard as they can on the wrong thing.

The problem with change leadership generally and adaptive change in particular is you've not just got to be clear, you've got to create conditions for people to believe in your vision and make it their own. If not, they'll build the wrong thing or build nothing. And it'll be your fault - which is why your visioning is so fundamental to your adaptive leadership and your organisational change.