/writing/ Working Towards Complexity

EVER STOOD OUTSIDE a door, frantically searching for a key, only for a friend to casually stroll up and open the door?

Your frustration turns to embarrassment – the door had been unlocked the entire time. Your friend wears a condescending smirk across his face.

It happens in many forms.

My wireless computer mouse stopped working the other day. I jiggled the batteries. That didn’t work. So, I went the store and bought new batteries.

I later spotted that the USB receiver was loose. A problem resolved with a simple push. The old batteries still worked; I had wasted a trip to the store.

Troubleshooting begins with eliminating the most basic of assumptions – Is that door locked? Is my mouse connected?

It’s a particularly important lesson as we plan communications strategies. This is when we get to ask the most basic of questions.

We haven’t been good at communicating with our Ministry counterparts. Therefore, we should launch a new website.

But is this really the best FIRST answer?

Launching a new website is a complex solution. Instead, assessing and revising the fundamentals of your organization’s government outreach history (frequency, approach, content, key relationships) is perhaps a better place to begin.

Complex solutions are needed, of course. You may need to launch that website; that door is often actually locked and the batteries actually dead.

But begin simply. Work towards the complex solution.

Thanks for reading.