Smaller Than That
Help a stuck change move without adding a single new thing.
What is made possible
A group works on the changes its members are actually stuck inside, under a rule that bans adding anything new. Everyone leaves with one probe they can start without permission. And people catch the prescribing reflex in their own mouths, which is the only place it can be caught.
Five structural elements
Structuring invitation.
“Think of a change you’re inside right now that isn’t going the way the plan said. If nothing springs to mind, bring something you’re watching somebody else struggle with; it works just as well. We’re going to help each other move, and nobody is allowed to add anything. No new practice, no new tool, no new meeting. Help has to make the thing smaller, take away something that’s holding it, or sharpen the watching. Everything else, keep to yourself.”
Space and materials.
Chairs in threes, no tables. One card per triad, where all three can see it, carrying this and nothing else:
No new things. No new practice, tool, meeting or framework.
Questions only, three kinds.
Smaller: what is the smallest version that could teach you something by Friday?
Remove: what could you stop, or loosen, without asking anyone?
Watch: how would you notice it working, or making things worse?
About to suggest something? Use these instead.
Participation distribution.
Everyone presents once and helps twice. The facilitator states the rule and keeps time; the card does the policing. Three people up, and six or more runs triads in parallel. A leftover pair runs the same rounds with one helper; a spare person makes a foursome and a fourth round.
Group configuration.
Triads, three rounds, roles rotating. Everyone together at the end.
Steps and time allocation
- 3 min
Intro. Give the invitation, then read the card aloud once.
- 3 min
Tell it. The first person describes a change they are living inside that isn’t behaving. What’s happening, not the diagnosis. The helpers listen.
- 6 min
Three kinds of question. The helpers go to work, questions only, the three kinds on the card. A helper who hears themselves about to suggest something swallows it and points at the card.
- 3 min
Commit. The presenter names one probe small enough to start without permission and stop without a meeting, one thing they’ll watch, and what would make them kill it. No date, no promised end state. Then somebody outside this room they’ll tell about it this week.
- 24 min
Rotate. Two more rounds, so everyone presents.
- 7 min
The almost-saids. Everyone together. Ask “what did you almost say?” Round the room, one each, the solution you caught yourself about to prescribe. No solving, no defending. Keep a tally where everyone can see it, on fingers if there’s nothing else. Say the number back to the room, ask “and why didn’t you say them?”, then say nothing.
Call it fifty minutes with chair shuffling.
Practice insights
- Tips
The ban is the structure, and when it slips the triad turns into free consulting and the presenter leaves with homework instead of a probe. The presenter will ask what you think they should do; the legal answer is another question. Watch for additions wearing question marks, because “have you considered a retro?” is a suggestion in fancy dress. Kill conditions get skipped for sounding defeatist, and without one a probe becomes a pilot, and pilots grow dates. If a probe needs a slide, it’s too big.
- Riffs and variations
For a group that has read the book, say what the card is doing. It’s refusing the lever, three chairs at a time.
- Practical applications
Wherever a room has just seen a problem clearly and is now hungry for a method; that hunger is what this was built for. It follows Same Plan, Ten Times, each presenter bringing the sticky they picked.
- Optional string
A fortnight after the probes start, reconvene with What, So What, Now What (opens in a new tab). For a situation that needs open advice rather than shrinking, hand it to Troika Consulting (opens in a new tab), this one’s more generous sibling.
Where it came from
Built on Troika Consulting (opens in a new tab), which runs the same rotation without the ban. The test of acting within your own reach comes from 15% Solutions (opens in a new tab).