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Eating an Elephant One Bite at a Time
Kai Miller
5 min read
The complexity of modern organisations combined with a fast-changing external environment means that the problems they face often have no obvious or simple solutions. While the chief of staff is seldom tasked with addressing problems or crises directly, they can influence how teams go about it.
A recurring theme in many of the CSA executive education programmes is the need to articulate ‘what is the problem we are trying to solve?’ Many challenges have multiple moving parts, and it can be impossible to address big issues (for example, the energy transition) all at once: ‘you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time’.
But breaking down a problem into smaller parts that can be tackled individually entails not just analysis but superb communication in order to arbitrate between competing demands while keeping all stakeholders aligned.
In these situations, the chief of staff often acts as a lubricant, helping not only to identify the constituent parts of a problem but also to demonstrate how those parts relate to each other: how tackling one change in one part of the organisation can contribute to addressing a large challenge.
‘The session introduced powerful ideas around negotiations and conversations that a lot of us naturally intuit but can have a hard time expressing.’
A common thread in many of the case studies we covered was communication within an organisation, up and down. There were many lessons that I took back to my organisation that helped me manage several complicated internal situations – starting from the first day I returned back at work after the programme.
By improving communication and alignment amongst my CEO, President, board, coworkers, partners and team we were able to significantly reduce our company’s burn rate, and increase our productivity.
Professor Kathleen McGinn’s session on traversing a career path introduced powerful ideas around negotiations and conversations that a lot of us naturally intuit but can have a hard time expressing. She made the rules and pathways of negotiations explicit, articulating the options we might have to respond to someone else’s move in an exchange, and where those options might take us. Having it laid out so clearly felt as if she was decoding the universe! Everything suddenly made so much sense.
Paul Kadzielski, Chief of Staff, American Center for Manufacturing and Innovation
‘“A problem well defined is half solved”: I’ve made that my mantra.’
I find myself reflecting on two quotes from different parts of the programme. The first is ‘buried in the complaint is a hope for a possible solution.’ I have found that incredibly powerful when both giving and receiving feedback: it has helped me to develop different ways to mine comments to try to find the diamond in the rough, like a treasure hunter.
The other impactful quote is: ‘A problem well defined is a problem half solved’. My role involves considerable coaching; using this line of thinking with knowledgeable subject matter experts can help surface the crux of the topic. Very often it’s their awesome expertise that is complicating the heart of the issue. This punchy quote has proved effective at prompting articulate and efficient outcomes while celebrating their depth of knowledge.
Both quotes are handy boosters to be more efficient, more articulate, and ultimately more helpful.
Donna Robertson, Chief of Staff, Global Data Office, Visa
‘The challenge of articulating which problem you’re trying to solve was a theme for the entire week.’
The case study about the rescue of the Chilean miners really resonated with me because of the sheer numbers of different stakeholders involved. As a government employee I have multitudes of stakeholders, and I don't ‘own’ or manage many of the different programmes that I'm trying to influence. So it was helpful to analyse how they took that leadership and communication challenge in a highly stressful situation and parcelled it out into controlled groups.
Brooke Mizener, Executive Adviser, Department of Homeland Security
