________________________________________________________________
William Ury
in his book, Getting to Yes, he tells
the story of a man in the Middle East who, upon his death, left to his 3 sons
17 camels. To the first son he left half
the camels, to the second son he left a third of the camels, and to the
youngest son he left a ninth of the camels.
The three sons immediately got into a lengthy and animated discussion
because 17 does not easily divide by 2.
It also doesn’t divide by 3, nor does it divide by 9. The discussion began to get somewhat heated. So finally in desperation, the brothers
consulted with a wise old woman.
The wise old
woman thought about their problem for a long time and finally came back and
said to the brothers, “Well, I don’t
know if I can help you. But at least, if
you want, you can have one of my camels.”
So they had 18 camels.
The first
son took his half; half of 18 is 9. The
second son took his third; a third of 18 is 6.
And the youngest son took his ninth; a ninth of 18 is 2. They had divided amongst themselves 17
camels. They ended up with one camel
left over. So they gave it back to the
wise old woman.
It’s
interesting how much this story resembles many of the difficult negotiations we
get involved in. They start off like the
seemingly unsolvable problem of dividing 17 camels. Somehow what we need to do is step back from
the situation like the wise old woman.
Look at the situation through fresh eyes and come up with an 18th
camel.
In his book,
The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective People, Steven R. Covey refers to the “18th
camel” as The 3rd Alternative.
The 3rd Alternative is a solution that is not your way or my
way, but a higher way; a better way that we come to together. It’s a truly synergistic solution that
requires stepping back and seeing things through a fresh set of eyes like those
of the wise old woman.
One of the
clients that I’ve worked with, and learned from, for many years is a large
health care organization that has a unique organizational perspective - which
is that any project of a certain scope or larger is required to have an
employee with less than six months as a project team member. In other words, the really big important
projects require the fresh eyes of a new hire (much like the fresh eyes of the wise
old woman). In my experience the opposite is usually the
norm in organizations. The most important projects require the most senior and
“experienced” people. This client, on
the other hand, has embraced the unique,
and I think more accurate, perspective that really important issues require
people that can think “outside the box”, which often comes with not knowing how
things are “supposed” to be done. It
takes a diverse group of people who feel free to express their opinions to
arrive at a truly synergistic solution.
Dave Kelly,
the CEO of the innovative Silicon Valley product development company IDEO, even
goes so far as to say that “in a very innovative culture you can’t have the
kind of hierarchy that says here’s the boss and the next person down, and the
next person down, and the next person down, and so on. Because it’s impossible that the boss is
always the one that’s had the insightful experience….! You have to hire people that don’t listen to
you.”
Or, I would
say, if that’s not possible, to at least
be willing to listen to people with a fresh set of ears and attempt to view
problems with a fresh set of eyes.
Mark
Murphy, FranklinCovey Consultant
Copyright © 2012 - Mark Murphy
________________________________________________________________
If you want
learn more about 3rd Alternative thinking, pick up Dr. Covey’s
book!
Enhancing innovation
one organization at a time,
John Vakidis
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