Chunking Up And Sown

I sat with some geotechs and engineers on Tuesday then, in a different mediation, a couple of entrepreneurs yesterday.

The differences in the way each of these mediations thought through the problem that had bought them to the table could not have been more stark.

The scientists chunked down; the two businessmen chunked up.

The engineers said, ‘well how else do you eat an elephant if it’s not one bite at a time?’ I said ‘do you mean decomposition?’ They rolled their eyes.

The entrpenuers said pick the low hanging fruit, then go up and get the rest.

You know, forest > tree > branch > leaf or going the other way, street> block > city > county > state > country – moving from the general to the specific; thinking conceptually before considering if the mechanics exist to achieve it; looking for linkages and themes…

Chunk up;

What does this mean?
Let’s look at the bigger picture…
How does that relate to…?
Hang on, what are we trying to achieve here?
Who is this for? What do they really want?

Chunk down;

How did you that?
Why did that happen?
What happened about…?
What, specifically,…
Tell me more about…
What is the root cause of all this?

                       

Geoff Sharp

Geoff Sharp is a Commercial Mediator from Wellington, New Zealand. Geoff works in the Asia Pacific region, including New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Pacific Islands. He is a mediator resolving business problems. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and mediates complex and hotly debated litigation covering… MORE >