In our work with leaders, teams, and organisations across the globe, we’re noticing an emerging theme: that a willingness to embrace nuance is becoming increasingly scarce.
Why is this?
Clear-cut, definitive answers are easy to deliver (for both leaders and consultants). But it’s far harder to say, “it depends,” or, “there are several possible answers.”
The pressure to deliver certainty is real: organisations want to buy certainty from consultants; consultants, in turn, want to create certainty and ‘productise’ everything. Leaders sell certainty, and employees crave it.
But alongside this relentless pursuit of conviction, nuance sits at the heart of everything it is to be human – the shades of grey that define our experiences and decisions.
The seduction of certainty
We crave certainty because it feels clear and reassuring. Black and white thinking is comforting – we pick a position and entrench ourselves, often encouraging a polarising effect on those around us.
Meanwhile, sitting in the more tentative, complicated grey area demands deeper thought and consideration. Nuance is about curiosity – a willingness to stay in a state of ‘not knowing’ and exploration, and to embrace complexity.
Senior leaders and their teams often seek definitive answers, feeling that this puts them in a position of strength and authority. But while certainty can be what we want; nuance is often what we need.
Why is nuance dying?
Social and political unrest have created a global climate of uncertainty. Big data, democratised knowledge, unprecedented processing power, and billions of global mobile connections drive exponential changes across governance, management, and production systems.
What worked before, doesn’t necessarily any more, and “firms seek to maintain their competitive edge through a continuous and sometimes manic pursuit of change.” (Lawrence and Armstrong, 1998)
Rapid change demands the speed of decision-making to increase: and these expedited decisions require leaders to act with decisive certainty. Nuance feels like the antithesis of this almost dogmatic conviction that one thing is right, and another is wrong – so we push it to the side.
But in moving away from nuance, we lose our ability to see a situation from many different angles. In shortening the time from consideration to decision, we potentially makepoorer decisions (with incomplete understanding) rather than better ones.
Embracing the grey
Decisive action and nuance aren’t mutually exclusive.
But while some questions have simple answers, most do not. If you, your team, your organisation, or your social circle feel entrenched in the conviction that one thing is true, good, or better, it’s probably time to start questioning it.
We need to build our capacity (both as individuals and across the team profile) to get comfortable with the grey areas. We need to be able to take a step back from the action; to take an analytical stance and reflect on our processes of collaboration, deliberation, and judgement.
In a world that demands rapid change and adaptation, the ability to navigate nuance and complexity becomes a crucial skill. By embracing the grey areas and challenging the pursuit of absolute certainty, we can make stronger decisions that take all factors into account (and stand the test of time). In turn, this creates more resilient, adaptable, and innovative organisations.