A town clock tower was built so everybody could work off the same time. Shared expectations make teams run.
CREATIVITY
WHAT THIS MEANS
Groups fall apart over unshared expectations more than over bad intentions. A town built a clock so that everybody meant the same thing by nine o’clock, and most friction on a team or in a family is the same problem in a different costume: two people using the word soon to mean different things. Agreement about the small stuff is what makes the big stuff possible.
In your next group project or shift, say the boring thing out loud. Who does what, by when, and what done looks like. It feels unnecessary right up until it saves the whole thing.
A QUESTION TO SIT WITH
Where does your team disagree about what was actually agreed?
MORE IN PARADOX, METAPHOR & FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- Glass is strong under pressure and fragile at one sharp point. Most people are too.
- Looking through a keyhole shows you a sliver of the room. That’s what a single post shows you of someone’s life.
- You don’t need your winter coat in May, but you don’t throw it away either. Some tools are just for certain seasons.
Free, with nothing to buy inside it.