Truth Serum? Could we handle work reality?

Prefer to watch rather than read?  Click here for the video, 5 mins with captions.

Indulge me in a little work fantasy, which combines two very unlikely sources – authors Jan De Visch and Otto Laske…and Jim Carrey!.

Jan De Visch and Otto Laske are researchers and consultants, and one of their brilliant books is Dynamic Collaboration. 

In this book they refer to Job 1 and Job 2:

Job 1 and Job 2

Job 1 is work as you know it.  The tasks, the things you’re doing.  Requires competence, skill, knowledge…all that good stuff.

Job 2, however, is all that work you’re doing to be OK.  To be secure, to be fulfilled, to feel secure.  Trying to understand what’s going on so you don’t look the fool.  So you can valued.

As you can probably guess…that’s the hard work. And it surrounds Job 1.

Liar Liar

My other side of the equation would struggle to be more opposite to Jan and Otto…it’s Jim Carrey!  Yes, Jim Carrey, and in particular his film Liar Liar.

From 1997, the film is about upward-bound lawyer Jim Carrey who frequently lies, in particular to his son as to why he is an absent dad.  So his son wishes that his dad can’t lie for a day…and it comes true.  Predictable hilarity ensues, and it’s one of my favourites because:

1. Watching someone acting with that level of eccentricity in the world is just a joy, and…

2. It gave me the idea about Truth Serum.

Truth Serum

Here’s the idea – what if we were given Truth Serum at work that put our Job 2 right into the middle of the table.

Some rules:

• Everyone gets the Truth Serum.  So we’re all going to be weird.  THIS IS KEY.
• It only causes Job 2 to come forward.  It doesn’t bring forward what you really think of people, there are no insults here…it’s only about what’s really going on for you.

In Action

Let’s play it out. 

The usual meeting might have someone raising an idea.  Some questions will be asked, criticism masquerading as clarifying, and the idea will most likely eventually peter out.  What if, instead, we heard this:

“I feel like I should support your idea – it makes sense, but I’m worried that if I did, the project I started last month will get put on the back burner.  It really should be – your idea is better for all of us, but I’m worried that I might not be able to show a big result for this year”

Different hey!

Or what about when people are asked to contribute to a project, and we respond by half-heartedly saying “I’ll check my calendar, I should be able to help” knowing full-well you can’t.  What if this came out:

“I can see why I should be helping you, but I want to avoid it because I’m worried I won’t be as competent as you think I am in this area.  There are also some other things I’m still not fully up to speed on, and until I do, I’m worried I’ll lose respect, so I’d prefer to lay low for a bit longer”.

Pretty full-on!

Remember, everyone has taken the Truth Serum, so there’s no one person who is going to be the vulnerable one.

Bringing it Home

At the very least, it would be interesting.  And what you’d get would be the full reality getting onto the table.  Instead of the usual Job 1 rationalities and logical arguments, people would also be putting on the table their Job 2 reasons as to why they are arguing that particular logic.  This in turn leads to a much wider and deeper interrogation of what is really going on, because in the end, the best a team can do is construct reality as they are seeing and feeling it.

And reality includes Job 2 as well.

Which leads to better decisions through better connection….which also leads to be better implementation.

Now…going the whole hog and going full Job 2 is going to freak out the normal humans.  My Truth Serum idea is just a fantasy.

But….perhaps just a touch of Truth Serum could do you and your team a favour.  If you’re in a leadership role, try putting just a bit of your Job 2 on the table.  Maybe others will follow your lead, and you’ll start heading toward seeing the full picture that is really in the room.

In the end, Job 1 is the easy work.  The person and the team that can become aware of their Job 2 and bring it into the discussion creates an ability to interrogate reality that can take them to a later stage.

The question is whether we have the guts.

Now, over to you.