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Simple or Complex

A few years back we were designing a learning program for a senior management team. And the partner I was working with came up with something - say, the SWOT analysis. And I said, well, that is too simple for a leadership team. They would have learnt in MBA, if not earlier. We need something complex was my reasoning.

The partner did not agree - he gave a reasoned argument - which I was not fully convinced and I thought of fighting this battle some other day.

But I saw this work in action - and the leaders struggled with the SWOT analysis - and the partner was able to pick it apart. They did not err in their SWOT - if thats what you think I am hinting at - but there were gaps in their framing, there were gaps in the way that they shared it with their team and so on. And the partner did not say anything - but I had learnt my lesson.

When we go after explaining something complex - the audience is confused in the framing and will attribute gaps in the framing to the complexity of the topic. But the moment the topic is clear - and simple - the gaps can be caught easily. This was my learning.

Why it came back? I experienced it recently and it was like a deja-vu seeing a similar pattern in action.

In a senior leadership program, rather than throw many concepts as we are wont to do, keep it simple, keep it meaningful and go deep - my learning...
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