Balancing Task World and Human World in Business

Imagine a bicycle.

The Task World is like the rear wheel of the bicycle. It’s responsible for forward motion, for drive and acceleration, and for power. The Human World is like the front wheel. It’s responsible for direction, and for balance. You need both. And depending on the culture of the organization, the balance between those two worlds may look a little different. 

There are some organizations that look like this. 

Imagine Wolf of Wall Street, or Enron, or Sunbeam under Chainsaw Al. Cutthroat, competitive, winner-take-all cultures. These are not touchy-feely organizations. Whatever they’re doing, these organizations are all about doing it better, doing it faster, or doing it first. They chew you up and spit you out. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing… if you’re into that. But don’t join up if words of affirmation are your love language. 

And there are some organizations that look like this.

I once had a client whose employees were all current or former secondary school counselors. Their meetings were all about making sure everyone felt heard and appreciated. Getting through all the agenda items or achieving all the meeting outcomes rarely happened. And they were OK with that. That was their culture. Organizations like this are all about doing it together. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing… if you’re into that. But don’t join up if you are someone who’s all about getting things done. 

But most organizations aren’t cutthroat securities brokers or secondary school counselors. They’re somewhere in the middle. And most organizations tend to overindex on the Task World at the expense of the Human World. But when you ignore the Human World, you erode trust in the organization. And without trust, people start to make up stories about each other. 

Which is what happened with that group I had been brought in to facilitate at the last minute. Their only interaction had been on Zoom meetings, conference calls, and emails. And in those interactions, there had been zero space for the individuals to get to know each other as human beings. They saw each other as functions, not people. They saw each other as parts of a machine, and parts that didn’t work too well at that. 

In neglecting and ignoring the Human World to focus on the Task World, the Human World started building up pressure, like a volcano getting ready to erupt. In every organization, stuff happens. And when the stuff happened, the individuals very naturally made up stories about each other. They interpreted and misinterpreted each other’s actions either as micromanaging or as uncaring, either as incompetent or demanding. And the more they interacted, the more they reinforced those stories. An email like, “Just a friendly reminder: please sign your timesheets by close of business on Friday,” was read as “Oh, here goes Bob again, micromanaging everything. I’ve been here for six months, and I ALWAYS get my timesheet in on time. He’s just adding noise and being self important.”

So when the consultant (and me, by extension) brought the team together for the first time, it was the first time they had met in person. And consequently, they had, for the first time, a place for all that pressure to get released into. By setting the ground rules and tone of the meeting, we had intentionally created a safe space, but we had also unintentionally created a space SO safe that the Human World finally erupted and spilled out all over the Task World. 

Just so there’s no cliffhanger, I’ll share the key lesson about how you can make space for the Human World now, then I’ll share what we did with the group. 

The lesson here is to make space for the Human World in your interactions. 

• Start meetings with a check in. Ask, “What’s everyone’s weather report today?” Or ask, “What’s your mood today?” Make it OK for people to show up as human beings.

• Show appreciation. Packs of thank you cards cost next to nothing. A handwritten thank you card can mean the world to someone at the right time. And if you’re on a remote team, handwrite a thank you card anyway. You can either mail it, or snap a photo of the inside and outside and email it.   

• Connect one-on-one. Make time to check in with the people you work with, to get to know them. What are their interests? What’s going on in their personal lives? What’s their history? What are their plans for the future? How’s it going? And share YOUR interests, personal life, history, and plans!

• Create a culture. It’s easy to think of corporate culture as an immovable object. It’s not. Culture is set by the people within it. Your team, your division, and your entire organization may have totally different cultures. And cultures can be created by things as simple as meeting together for lunch, insider jokes, repeating stories, or physical objects as totems of culture. I once worked with a team that would launch a stuffed monkey across the sea of cubicles that would cut loose with an electronic scream as it flew through the air. The screaming, flying monkey was a way of cutting the tension in an otherwise stressful job.

• Set ground rules. Whether you call them operating agreements, principles, or ground rules, these are the behaviors that individuals expect from others such that they can be in partnership. The most highly functioning teams have ground rules that they reference on a daily basis, working them into the language and their decision processes. “Hey, I know we’re not happy about these new rules on timesheets, but are we really assuming noble intent here?”

• Find a coach. Not a touchy feely kind of person? Too bad, tough guy: not everyone on the team is like you. And that’s a good thing: seek one of them out. Explain that you’d like to bring more of a human element into the work, and get their advice. What ideas do they have? What would they recommend you try to bring a little more balance to the bicycle? 

• End meetings with check outs. Ask, “What’s one thing you’re grateful for?” Or ask, “What’s one thing you’re looking forward to?”

So here’s what we did. When the shouting stopped and was followed by an awkward and sullen silence, I stood and quietly said. “Take a break. Get outside. Take a walk. Get some fresh air. Do NOT open email or check your phone. Clear your heads. And we’ll get started again in fifteen minutes.” And I dismissed the group. 

When they came back, my colleague and I had completely rearranged the room. The tables were gone. We had set up the chairs in a circle. There was no back row. There was nothing to hide behind. Everyone could see everyone. They reluctantly took their seats. 

I said, “Sometimes, a model can be a really good lens to diagnose that thing that is messy and complex and ambiguous, and that’s human behavior. So let me offer this model.” I drew a quick sketch of the Task World and Human World and quickly explained it. I asked, “How does this explain what happened here this morning?”

The team did a great job of using the Task World and the Human World to explain what had happened. They realized they had been neglecting the Human World, and how that neglect had erupted and overtaken the Task World. “We can’t get anything done if we don’t trust each other,” one participant said. 

“Okay,” I said. “So let’s focus on the Human World. Before we begin, what ground rules do we need to put in place so we can have this conversation? I’ll start a list…”

At Lizard Brain, we bring both the Task World and the Human World into all of our work. We love strategic planning and operations planning and action lists and getting things done, but we ALSO love building trusting relationships among the people we serve. Because it doesn’t matter how smart an idea is if no one listens to it.  Contact us today to learn more.  

PS: I also reminded my consultant friend of the need to do a robust and in depth discovery before bringing a group together.