Pattern Spotting Super Powers

A restless world asks for a different set of skills than we might be used to, and one of them is the ability to spot patterns in a complex system. And yes, like any other skill, you can develop and hone it with deliberate practice.

This is an important departure from the old way of consulting, where an organization had to live up to someone else’s standards or checklists. Coaches who thrive in this world bring a stronger sense of discovery. In interviews and workshops, I’m looking for patterns and for what they reveal about the system. The longer I can stand in inquiry, the better the decisions about next wise actions.

One of my favorite stories about this comes from Dr. Glenda Eoyang of the HSD Institute, and it goes like this.

An agricultural institution hired her to work with a team of general-purpose managers who weren’t getting along. Their current jobs didn’t line up with their schooling, and their unhealthy interactions were getting in the way of the work.

In a workshop, she asked them to list all the differences in the room. They talked about the cars they drove, the sports teams they liked, whether they were married or single, and so on. It felt lighthearted, and people were having a good time. Then someone said, “We went to different campuses,” and the room went quiet. Glenda realized this was an important difference, so she asked about it. Most of them had gone to the state university, but some had studied at the Agricultural Business campus while others had gone to the Agricultural Tech campus, where they learned farming and animal husbandry.

So she invited them to split up, with each campus on its own side of the room, and asked each group to share what they thought the other group said about them. The business folks guessed the others saw them as fancy and all talk, with no purpose or value, and kept going with the nasty things they knew were said about them. The farm folks guessed they were seen as unwashed and uncultured, and unloaded a few more. Right in the middle of all that name-calling, one of them said, “But if they didn’t do what they do, we couldn’t do what we do.” That was the moment they could settle into figuring out how to build on what both sides of the room contributed, and they began to work like a team.

I love this story for many reasons, mostly because it echoes what I see in coaching day in and day out, and because it’s exactly how I try to influence and nurture positive change. I believe that when we turn our judgment into curiosity, we find fresh ways to get unstuck and keep thriving.