There’s a scene in the film Notting Hill where the impoverished bookshop owner, Hugh Grant, takes the film diva, played by Julia Roberts, to supper at his sister’s house. We see them at the end of the gastronomically disastrous meal at the point when it is decided that the last chocolate brownie will be awarded to the person with the saddest ‘hard luck’ story. The failing restaurateur, the bad cook, his paraplegic wife and the rest all take their turn to vie for the remaining cake. But the one story that has always stuck in my mind comes from the girlfriendless investment banker who comes out with the line “I’m in a job I don’t understand…”. He may even say that he hates it (film buffs feel free to write and correct) but the notion of turning up to an office clueless, for me, is chilling. Chilling because I see it a lot and it causes pain.

At the risk of over simplifying, the workday has become more complicated. In the private sector because complicated business models have had to be devised to handle the fast growing array of complex offerings and connections between businesses and their customers. In the public sector because the day-to-day running of services is so closely linked to the sentiments of the people they are meant for and the daily reactions of their political representatives who seem to mandate major changes seemingly almost weekly. Throw in the ever-ready-to-work culture brought on by the advent of instant communication. Add a splash of political and economic instability and the fear induced by the potential for losing one’s job and: hey presto! you have many people working hard at they know not what.

It’s not that people don’t understand the individual pieces of their jobs, it’s just that they’re much less clear about what really counts as important, urgent or rubbish; filtering out useless information, data and input has become a challenge. So has the need to say “no” to unreasonable, unworkable or time-wasting requests. But more than anything, the syndrome that blights us today is complication. Things have become unbearably complicated. No, not complex, complicated.

The difference between the two is best explained by way of a few examples:

• Emotions are complex; not talking about them makes them complicated.
• Big bang theory is complex; a good author can express it in a way that is uncomplicated.
• All people are complex; some are complicated.

Inevitably, in meeting with new individuals and groups we (PEC) have to concentrate upon staying out of the ‘content’, the complexity of the daily job, what the client actually does, and to keep our eyes on the process of how they do it. It is what we are indeed trying to help the client to do more often for themselves; to ask basic questions about process and not content. Here is the key set, about conversations, that almost always gets lost in the noise of the job:

1. What effect am I trying to have on the other person? (at an emotional level)
2. What behaviour am I going to do to achieve it? (am I going to listen or talk?)

But here is the real rub. We are now so used to complication that we expect it; actually we demand it. In fact, we tend to reject something if it looks too simple in the belief that it won’t be up to the job. Who dares, therefore, to quietly and doggedly ask the simple questions whenever things are getting too complicated…