Distortion, Deletion, and Generalization - Impact on Action and Outcome
by Kathleen M. Peterson, Chief Vision Officer, PowerHouse Consulting, Inc. -
July 11, 2011
Distortion, Deletion, and Generalization - Impact on Action
and Outcome
By Kathleen M. Peterson
Chief Vision Officer, PowerHouse Consulting, Inc.
I first heard about the effects of Distortion, Deletion, and
Generalization at a two-week Tony Robbins seminar I attended in
Hawaii in 1990. I had been working on a couple of huge projects
and was burnt out, bummed out, and desperate for some kind of
diversion to reignite my passion. I had no idea what I was getting
myself into … only what I was getting myself out of … if only
temporarily. I had never been to Hawaii so I figured what the
heck.
It turns out that this was a completely unique experience and one
that would take more than this space to explore. As I participated
in this intense adventure, the likes of which I had never known, I
was stopped in my mental tracks when this topic was introduced.
Distortion, Deletion, and Generalization were introduced as
“mental filters,” a concept based on the practice of Neurolinguistic
Programming introduced in the seventies by John
Grinder and Richard Bandler. All I kept thinking was … this is
what is happening in business … this is what I am witnessing …
this is what has been frustrating me. I have carried this revelation
forward 20 years and the concept remains a reference I return to
frequently.
I invite you to explore this concept with me at a very high level. I
think you will agree that the impact of this kind of thinking has a
huge impact on setting strategy and objectives as well as on
achieving them.
DISTORTION
Think about Distortion. How many times have you come across a
situation, a person, a department, or an entire company where
the filter of distortion drives decisions? And let’s not forget that
doing nothing about something is, in fact, a decision.
Distortion is a filter that is often based on presupposition -
something we must believe in order to support a continuing belief.
For example, we all work in organizations where technology,
systems, etc., are key to processes. What happens when our
view of various technologies has been distorted? We may believe
that “this solution” will fix all that ails us or that we simply cannot
succeed because our current “system” is bad. Once the distortion
is put into action, it is very difficult to undo, even when the
evidence to the contrary is astounding. The distortion or filter
prevents the believer from allowing any information contrary to
their assumptions to be considered.
Distortion exists at every level. Executives may distort programs,
visions, missions, strategies, or directives to satisfy a need for a
particular outcome (profits, stock price, etc.) only to learn (once
the evidence becomes overwhelming) that the solution was
heavily weighted with invalid assumptions. Think the
Mortgage/Wall Street crisis!
The front line is another level where distortion plays a significant
role. The objective of efficiency in handling customers may lead
to the front line behaving in ways contrary to the delivery of
excellence in Customer Service. For example, when a leader
dictates the objective of an “average” handle time (let’s say three
minutes), more often than not the agents on the front line assume
that every call should be no more/no less than three minutes.
This often leads to agents terminating a call prior to meeting the
customer’s needs and resulting in unhappy customers and repeat
calls. The agents DISTORT the message - quite often because
the delivery provides little or no context. Just for the record … in
today’s world if you feel you MUST establish these types of goals
consider a range rather than an absolute. It is, after all, the
leader’s job to contextualize objectives and minimize distortions
which lead to contradictory behaviors.
Distortion is also the force most likely behind situations being
“blown out of proportion.” Those involved must distort a lot of
information to create this condition. Think about rumors about
downsizing, outsourcing, moving, impact of acquisition, etc. To
avoid or minimize the negative impact of distortion leaders must
learn to broaden their thinking to include additional options. They
must learn to pay attention to the response of those they lead. Is
the information, the objective, or the requested action providing
the intended outcome? If not, leaders must quickly intervene and
redirect.
DELETION
The importance of deletion in this crazy information-rich world is
fairly obvious; if we were not able to filter
information we would be overwhelmed to the point of complete
paralysis. However, we must be cautious and mindful of this
process in order to avoid deleting information that is necessary to
make intelligent decisions. Far too often the deletion process
within us has been set to automatic; we adopt realities that lead
to actions while filtering out far too many important elements.
Consider the hiring process. Deletion is often an enemy in this
realm. Deletion often leads to a focus on the negative, on what is
lacking. For example, this candidate has never worked in a Call
Center so they should be eliminated … this candidate isn’t
experienced in our exact industry so they should be eliminated.
This kind of thinking is in contrast to the more expansive systems
used by companies like USAA where they purposely search for
those candidates WITHOUT Call Center experience in order to
avoid hiring bad habits. More and more organizations are
adopting the approach of “hiring for the heart and attitude and
training for the specific skill”
Deletion in this discipline is also often based on the areas of
focus of the hiring manager. If this manager sees only what is
wrong in candidates or focuses only on specific skills or
experience, the opportunity to find new and refreshing talent may
be lost. The discipline here is to evaluate the approach taken in
your organization. What is most discussed when considering a
candidate? If you find yourselves focusing on what is missing or
what is wrong, it is very likely that the talent, skills, and potential
are being deleted. The pattern is dangerous because the
repercussions of such deletions are more likely to be felt in the
longer term where the wakeup call comes in the form of high
turnover or ineffective leadership.
I have seen many times in organizations candidates that are
deleted because they may appear “smarter” or seen as a “threat”
to those in the hiring positions. Of course, much of this takes
place on a subliminal level. So it is critical to have an honest
inventory of yourself to reveal and learn what it is that prevents
excellent talent from being hired or from being retained. And
finally, deletion often leads to favoring those folks that are most
like you and deleting the need for genuine competency for the
position. Beware the subtleties of deletion and remain open to indepth
self assessment. This will ultimately broaden your view and
reduce patterns of destructive deletion …… making you a smarter
and more successful leader.
Deletion also plays a significant role in measuring performance
and other management methods. We live in a world where focus
on numbers and the promises of success - combined with the
adoption of nouveau management or snazzy technology - deletes
logic and discerning assessment of tools and technology as it
relates to YOUR organizational needs.
Consider the Call Center measurement approach. In some
organizations, the simplistic focus on numbers such as achieving
a specific abandon percentage, deletes the need to understand
the factors contributing to this condition. I learned a long time ago
that abandonment is a response to a condition NOT a condition in
and of itself. Therefore we must embrace rather than delete the
contributing factors - caller’s tolerance, caller’s time available,
alternative options, etc. While abandonment is an important factor
to consider, we need to focus on what makes it happen. What is
our service level? How is our resource model built and executed?
We must evaluate resource allocation to the randomly arriving
workload. The analysis of abandon is easy to delete because it is
not easy nor is it likely to be a single entity. Many folks have
taken to deleting short abandon times from the report to make the
numbers look better. This is a great example of deletion that is
meaningless from a process that actually corrects those holding
for long periods of time and THEN abandoning. If we get the
number down with simple mathematical calculations, we delete
the necessity to correct the real issues that impact real callers.
We could go on and on about numbers and reporting in the Call
Center and this piece is not the time. But I would like to add one
thing that will cause senior level deletion of the Call Center’s
genuine worth … that is, reporting solely on the numbers. Even if
that is what the executives ask for, this method positions the
Center as a factory-like production environment. It will continue to
be treated as such as long as your reporting methodology
DELETES your value at the executive level. Report on the
Customer Experience, customer retention, add-on sales, and
performance of campaigns or product launches. In other words …
GET CREATIVE. Creativity is stifled by habitual deletion. It’s time
to take an inventory!
Finally, when evaluating agents (particularly in the Quality area) it
is important to look for habits of deletion. If information support for
the agent is complicated and time consuming, you may find
agents answering questions without confidence or escalating
because they just don’t know where to look for the answer.
Agents will delete messages the caller is sending
due to the near “trance-like” state that can take place in a job that
is sedentary and repetitive. Leaders must look for signs of
deletion in the rank and file and spur creativity to breathe life
back into a stale or stagnant environment. I believe in engaging in
“fun” activities in the Call Center organized around the customer,
the call types, and the experiences that agents are having. What
have we learned about our customers this week? What have we
learned about our systems? What have we learned about what
we do that is smart… stupid? Focus activities on the business
side of things and get the department accustomed to being
business thinkers, not just cogs in the Call Center wheel.
GENERALIZATION
I believe we are all familiar with the impact of generalizations on
our business and personal lives. Interestingly enough,
generalizations are often easier to spot in others than in
ourselves. Simply put, a generalization is the adoption of a
universal truth - all bosses are lousy managers - no companies
care about their people - all men are bad - all young people are
lazy … you get the idea. Generalizations are beliefs we hold as
true and which often create limitations in our views and actions.
Often, they are our minds’ way of organizing information in our
brains to interpret conditions … a kind of software program to
help us efficiently move through the world. The risk here is that
like distortion and deletion, generalizations may lead to
limitations.
Generalizations often rely on a single example to represent an
entire group. For example, I can’t count the number of times I
have heard people whom I consider smart and accomplished
suggest that Gen Xers are lazy, self absorbed, and spoiled
slackers with short attention spans. This stereotype (i.e.,
generalization) is ridiculous and more a poor reflection on the
speaker than on the target. Perhaps the management approach
needs to be adjusted, the job enriched, or the communication
enhanced. But to lump an entire generation into a single category
allows the impact of poor hiring and managing to be laid upon the
generation … suggesting a condition that nothing can be done
about. This is a most dangerous generalization since (like it or
not) these and the upcoming millennials are in fact the next
workforce. They are among the best educated and most
intelligent folks around. Granted, Gen Xers are infinitely better
equipped to work with technology, social media, and gadgets of
all sorts. They speak up when “rules” don’t make any sense and
they do not necessarily follow in lock step directives that appear
“stupid.” This is a generation we’d best figure out how to manage
because regardless of any of our deeply held beliefs, this
generation and those following are not only our workforce but
also our CUSTOMERS.
……
So let’s just consider thinking through the areas that could be
impacted by Distortion, Deletion, and Generalization. This
requires looking inward to listen to the dialogue taking place in
our head. I recently read an article that asked, “What stories do
you torture yourself with?” And so it is that tuning into our internal
language will help us identify our tendencies toward these
“mental filters” and their associated effects. Open your mind,
adjust where necessary, and get excited about the process. This
simple evaluation may change your life!
“The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the
offspring we call luck.” Tony Robbins
(#43, Distortion, Deletion, and Generalization - Impact on Action
and Outcome, End of Year 2010)
PowerHouse Consulting, Inc.
360 Route 101, Suite 6
Bedford, NH 03110
www.powerhouse1.com
1-800-449-9904
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