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“What do you want for dinner, boys?” I often ask the three elementary-aged youths who live with me. Honestly, as a researcher, I should know better. That’s a terrible question, inevitably leading to three different answers. Then my options are A) “cooking” a casino buffet of mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and corn dogs, or B) I choose one and two boys will feel unheard and cranky. Either way, it’s my fault for not framing the question correctly.
The leaders I talk to in my work for DORIS face this dilemma. Generally speaking, many leaders can get behind the concept of engaging their workforce to better understand their challenges and how to address them. However, once reality sinks in, they often state their fear of “opening Pandora’s box.”
Pandora’s box, of course, comes from Greek mythology. Pandora, the first woman on Earth, lets her curiosity lead her to open a mysterious gift she received from the gods. The gift contained all the world’s evils, which escaped when Pandora opened the box. It was impossible to put the contents back in. The story’s message has become simplified: If Pandora hadn’t opened the box, nothing terrible would happen to the humans inhabiting Earth.
Leaders use this metaphor all the time to describe how they feel about asking their workforce questions. They fear asking questions will lead to requests they can’t (or don’t want to) fulfill. They feel people will expect them to respond, and if leaders don’t give the people what they want, they will have an angry workforce to contend with—not unlike dinner with the Julka boys.
What I want leaders to understand is that they shouldn’t fear asking questions; they should fear asking questions that are not framed for success. Take the dinner situation above. Instead of asking the boys what they want for dinner, I need to reframe my question. If I start by thinking about how I want to receive feedback, in this case, more criteria-based and abstract, I can instead ask “What do you boys want out of dinner?” Their answers will allow me to make a more informed decision that will satisfy the whole group, including me. Maybe the boys just want something hot, maybe they want something with cheese, maybe they just want to feel full. This intel will help me patch together one great meal.
If opening Pandora’s box means letting evil out, aka scary things we don’t want to deal with, we can opt to leave that box on the shelf. But the scary things are still there; we just don’t have to face them head-on. It’s better to find a way to open the box and deal with the contents constructively. We have the choice as leaders to frame questions in a way that benefits all of us.
What’s often left out of the story of Pandora’s box is what remains in the container after all the evil scampers out. That’s hope. The coolest thing about hope is that it stays. I believe it’s there because we need hope to fortify ourselves when facing scary problems. Pandora’s Box would be a real bummer if we were left with despair instead. We should despair if we never open the box to tackle the problems inside.
Leadership takes courage. Anytime you find yourself worried about Pandora’s box, just remember that it’s best to open it, constructively face the problems and develop a hopeful future. If you don’t, you might continue to live in despair.
Here’s hoping I can find an inclusive approach to dinner that only includes one form of artificial cheese, and maybe, just maybe, we can mix in some broccoli!•
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Julka is founder of Indianapolis-based DORIS Research, which uses design thinking to organize workspaces.
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