Wake-up Call: Driven crazy by mixed meassages

We’re all a little bit crazy – and at some point most managers have certainly felt that way about their subordinates. But maybe you’re the one driving them nuts. Are you presenting your people with a “double bind” – asking them to behave in contradictory ways simultaneously?

Organisations routinely tell people to “be empowered and innovative” and to “take risks”, while demanding at the same time that they “make a plan and deliver on all their commitments”. If you think this drives people crazy, you’re right.

So what can you do to help keep your people sane?

First, don't pretend that this conflict doesn't exist. Harvard Business School professor Chris Argyris has described the sequence of events that happens when you fail to do so.

Organisations craft messages that contain ambiguities or inconsistencies. They then instil craziness by acting as if the messages weren’t inconsistent in the first place. Finally, they make the message’s ambiguity or inconsistency undiscussable, and top it all off by making this undiscussability undiscussable, too.

Argyris pointed out the problem is not that people can’t deal with conflicting messages; they do it all the time.

Mum says one thing and Dad contradicts. But it’s bad news when the powers that be pretend their messages aren’t in conflict and effectively pre-empt any discussion of the matter.

The second thing you can do to keep your team sane is acknowledge that when people act frustrated, confused or hesitant, there’s a good chance that this double bind is the root cause.

The point is to discuss the undiscussable. Bring it right out into the open without any expectation that the original mixed message will change – because it probably won’t, at least not in the near future.

The good news is that it doesn’t have to. If people talk and laugh about it, even if only with friendly colleagues and their boss, it will go a long way toward creating more psychological freedom. Even if your subordinates don’t talk about it a lot, just the awareness of these mental structures will make them less frustrated.

You can even let people know you feel the same way. You can laugh about it. It means a lot to your subordinates for them to know you understand the situation the same way they do. Once you’re talking about it, you may find other creative ways of helping your people navigate the bind.

But even if you don’t, the discussions will naturally lead to increased confidence and sure-footedness.

While you can minimise the psychological impact of a double bind, changing the mixed messages that give rise to it is another matter altogether.

But have heart. Surfacing and discussing structures such as these is probably the single most important first step to effecting systemic change.

The existence of a double bind inevitably means that people are living in a world of some discomfort.

If you or your co-workers are frustrated, confused or reticent, you might point out to them the inherent difficulty of being told both to do something and not to do it at the same time. It’s pretty hard to find behaviour that meets both instructions.

Ask your subordinates what they might do with this situation. You can never tell what you might learn and you'll certainly deepen your rapport with them. Copyright Harvard Business Review 2014

Len Schlesinger is the Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Charlie Kiefer is the founder of Innovation Associates. Schlesinger and Kiefer are the authors of Just Start.