29 Jan 2006

A Big Chunk Or A Small Chunk?

The Referral

A client was referred to me after he’d resigned from his job in frustration. His company didn’t want to let him go and asked him to visit me to see if we could resolve the issues which had lead to Joe’s decision.

Vague Instructions

Joe (not his real name) complained that his boss gave him, “extremely vague” instructions that he struggled to understand. He was upset and discouraged because it seemed she was dissatisfied with the work he produced. Joe didn’t know how he could resolve the situation as he felt he was doing his best.

Resignation the best option

In desperation he’d resigned, deciding the best thing was to look for another job. When he showed me a report he’d completed I began to understand where the difficulties lay…

A Big Chunk Or A Small Chunk?

Problems between people may arise because of the way each likes to take in and process information. Some like to take in big “chunks” of information – to be given the big picture, the overview. They have a more global perspective. Others prefer smaller chunks of information; they like to know the specific details and how things apply to them.

You might be a global ‘chunker’.

If you’re a global person you’ll talk about some overall objectives. You probably won’t describe the specifics or how they are to be achieved. You may present things in random order using simple sentences with few details. You often don’t bother specifying the link between your ideas because in your own mind you can see the whole relationship.

Or maybe you’re a specific chunker?

If you like detailed information and specific instructions you’re a small chunker. You’ve probably got less awareness of the overview and you tend to concentrate on giving step-by-step accounts, speaking in sequences.

Giving instructions

If asked how to compile a report a specific person might say: ‘Well, first of all you need to get all the information together; so you’ll need to get the accounting information from the CFO, then you’ll have to talk to Production and make sure they’re going to have their figures ready on time and of course you need to make sure someone in HR knows to give you the absentee figures. Then you’ll need to put things in the right order. To get things in the right order, first you’ll have to…’

By this stage the global person will feel bored, annoyed, frustrated and/or overwhelmed by detail!

The global person, asked how to compile the same report might reply: “Well, you just to get the information together and then write it.” For the specific person this is simply too vague and doesn’t give him enough information to understand what the global person is actually talking about. I’m sure you understand specifically what the global problem is here!

A digression for a moment

It’s useful at this point to digress a little. I was brought up with the idea that you should treat others in the way that you want to be treated. For general purposes it may be a good way of thinking. However, it was this very belief that got me into trouble when I was managing a team. Because my natural tendency is towards global thinking. I would get extremely annoyed if anyone tried to give me the details of a project or tell me how it should be done. I would feel personally affronted and indignant. I was thus very careful to ensure my team never got to feel that way by giving them fairly chunked up (OK then – vague!) information! I didn’t want to offend them by giving them the impression that I didn’t trust them to do their job.

The consequences

The consequence of this behaviour was that my team hounded me for more information. Or they would try to guess what I wanted and give me something I didn’t want! Finally I realised that they all preferred – and needed – chunked down, specific directions to feel comfortable and competent to complete a task. I was completely mortified to think that I’d probably been driving them nuts by being so vague. Apart from that learning, I now know that it’s more useful to treat people as they want to be treated – which may be totally different from how you want to be treated.

How does chunking affect organisations?

With many organisations flattening out their management structures and subsequently getting rid of middle management, I’ve seen these types of problems worsen. Part of a middle managers role was to ‘translate’ global information from senior management into specific instructions for those carrying out the tasks.

Nowadays senior managers often give “global” directives to those they lead and the followers complain about needing more specific and tangible instructions.

How to keep everyone happy

So what’s the answer to keep everyone happy? In simple terms it’s teaching individuals a way of chunking information so they can deliver it in a way that’s appropriate for the listener. So if you’re a specific person I’d teach you how to give an overview first and then provide details to back up the information if required. The overview is like a filing cabinet into which the details (the individual files) can be located.

If you’re a global person I would teach you to chunk down and provide sufficient detailed, sensory information. Information that relates specifically to the person who will be carrying out the task.

An example

If you are writing a report, you could start with an executive summary for the global people and then give details for the specific people. Possibly the quickest and easiest way of conveying information in the most appropriate manner is to ask how much information a listener would like. In this way you can make sure they get what they want and you won’t offend them by giving too much or not enough detail.

Learning

Many people have a natural ability to chunk up and down and it is a skill worth developing. Not only will it allow you to gain rapport with more people, it also increases your thinking flexibility because both global and specific thinking are essential to establishing and executing company or individual goals.

Back to Joe

Joe’s report was a mass of detail. It contained no overview. I read it several times and couldn’t make sense of it. It just seemed to go from one detail to another with no overall goal. So I showed Joe ways to first write a global overview or an executive summary then link these to the details. I helped him ask specific questions of his boss so that he could get the information he needed to feel comfortable doing his work and meeting his bosses requirements.

Then I talked to his boss (who really didn’t want to lose him) about how she could be more specific with the tasks she wanted him to complete and to invite his questions to ensure he had all the information he needed.