Ah, sweet clarity! How refreshing to have someone peer through the blizzard of data that constantly confronts us and describe the way ahead with clarity, coherence and meaning.

Never before have we been ‘snowed under’ with so much information, says a KPMG client survey. Is it any surprise that those who can offer clarity are admired? Is it any wonder that this gift provides a powerful platform for leadership?

Clarity in speaking comes from clarity in thinking, says Keith Spicer, author of Think on Your Feet®, and clear thinking is structured, or patterned.

Which brings us to the fascinating world of pattern recognition.

• Successful leaders excel at pattern recognition
• This is how they make sense of the world
• And how they communicate that sense to their ‘followers’

Successful leaders excel at pattern recognition.

What is pattern recognition?

Simply, it is the ability to make sense of no sense; to put information in formation; to see the 100,000,000 lurking in 100000000.

We couldn’t survive without it. Take driving along a motorway in heavy traffic and a downpour, for example. This is difficult and dangerous. We survive only by sifting from the ‘downpour of data’ only the patterns that matter; like keep other tail lights in front, avoid oncoming headlights and ignore the family row in the car beside us!

Pattern recognition is, according to media guru Marshall McLuhan, “the brain’s natural reaction to information overload”.

Which makes it less surprising that studies reveal pattern recognition as a differentiator in leadership performance.

How does it help leaders make sense of the world?

Leaders show the way ahead. Literally, that’s what our ancestral, nomadic leaders did. They could read the patterns in the land and weather and show others the way. Their skill ensured success, measured then in terms of food, shelter and survival.

Later, navigator-leaders (think James Cook, etc.) led by discerning patterns in the heavens, the seas and the winds, and thus opened up new horizons for exploration.

In the world of ideas, leaders take us to new ‘places’ too. Charles Darwin saw patterns in nature that led to a new understanding of living things. He was anointed (and pilloried) as a leader of ideas.

It’s the same in organisations. I once worked for Tony, a marketing leader extraordinaire. Our openness to his leadership was based on his uncanny ability to ‘read’ the messages the market was trying to send us--messages otherwise locked up in the masses of sales data I presented to him. Later I came to rely heavily on David, a finance colleague, who, at a glance (so it seemed), could detect a rubbery ratio or a treacherous trend in the accounts.

Even the absence of a pattern is a pattern. A study into how people like firefighters make sudden, life and death decisions tells of the fire-fighting commander who suddenly ordered his men from the blaze they were battling. His reason? The pattern of the fire didn’t fit with anything in his experience. His unease prompted the order to evacuate--seconds before the house caved in.

We gladly follow those who can divine the right course of action in the middle of mayhem. And if there are followers, there’s a leader.

How do leaders use patterns to inform and inspire?

According to Peter Senge, author of the Fifth Discipline, "The essence of leadership -- what we do with 98 percent of our time -- is communication. ….we must start by bringing discipline to the domain in which we spend most of our time, the domain of words."
A recent study by Accenture reveals communication as a key performance issue. Of 200 senior executives interviewed, less than 20% believed the majority of staff understood company business strategy and could relate their job to it!

Today’s knowledge workers seek idea leadership, something to commit to. And when they commit, there’s a big payoff. In business, profits go up. An International Survey Research study into commitment and loyalty showed its significance. Margins in high-commitment companies grew by 3.74% over 3 years, and fell by 2.01% in low-commitment companies. That’s a 5% difference!

One M.D. I know (let’s call him Alpha Leader) believes communication is the key to commitment. He hosts a regular ‘town meeting’. His unvarying format is to review Volumes, Vision and Values: Volumes = business results; Vision = a reminder of why we are doing all this; and Values = a chance to relate stories of some recent examples of ‘the way we like to do things around here’, and to applaud the staff involved.

Predictable? Yes. Boring? Not usually. Memorable? Definitely. After hearing Alpha a few times you have no doubt what this organisation is about, and how your job relates to it! Indeed, just recalling the ‘three V’s’--as they are known by all--reminds us what’s important. Patterns are memorable. Therefore they can continue to persuade.

Alpha uses a simple three-part pattern held together by the alliterative device of the “Vs". Nothing flash, but effective.

Where do the patterns come from? They come variously from story telling, logic, music and philosophy (see below). Here’s a simple two-part pattern. It works by offering stark options. Two stories, one about a Boy Scout, one about an airline pilot, show how persuasive it can be.

Robert Cialdini, author of Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion tells how he was approached by 12-year old boy inviting him to buy $5 tickets to the Boy Scout Circus on the coming Saturday. Cialdini, not attracted by the idea of spending Saturday evening with the Scouts, declined. The Scout immediately countered with, “Then maybe you’d like one of our big chocolate bars for $1?” Cialdini snapped up the alternative, only later to wonder why. He doesn’t eat chocolate!

Maybe when this Boy Scout is national leader will he say things like “If you are not with us, you are against us”? It’s a similar ‘pattern’ of logic, as is the incident with the airline pilot. It was a stormy evening in Melbourne while waiting to take off for Sydney. We sat on the tarmac. The winds were so strong the plane was shaking, and we hadn’t taken off yet! Frustration was apparent among the travellers.

The pilot spoke: “Ladies and gentlemen: Like me, I’m sure you are anxious to get home. But we are experiencing bad weather at the moment. I’ve decided to wait until this front passes—maybe another 15 minutes or so (audible groan in plane). After all, if you’re like me, you’d rather be down here wishing you were up there, than up there wishing you were down here”.

Most of us smiled. Some commented to the stranger next to them. Soon a wave of conversation rippled through the cabin. Frustration dissipated. All this because the pilot offered us choices in a direct but engaging way. Soothing 200+ passengers with a few words is skill indeed.

If this pattern seems too stark, too simplistic, then maybe you’ll recall the ‘goldilocks’ pattern. Remember the story of the three bears? And the bowls of porridge that were too hot, too cold and, finally, satisfyingly, just right? If so, you’ll notice how a ‘serious’ appeal by a hotel general manager (Leader Beta) mimics the same pattern.

The context: Singapore. SARS has caused a dramatic downturn in the hotel’s bookings. The accounts are bleeding red ink. Management is concerned. The staff is terrified. Beta calls a meeting to talk to them and make a proposal.

He sets the stage like this: “On the one hand we could do nothing, and leave all the staff in place for the eventual upturn…but we’ll need a lot of money to survive if this drags on, money we may not have. On the other hand, we could let staff go and stem the losses…but we’d lose precious talent we hope to need again in the future. Can I suggest a compromise that might help us all?” He then outlines a package of proposals--taking overdue leave, shorter working weeks, etc.--that seem, in the present situation, to be ‘just right’.

Persuasive? Yes. Empathic? Yes. Satisfying? Right now, yes!

Leader Beta’s pattern is similar to Tony Blair’s “Third Way”. Irrespective of your politics, the use of the ‘goldilocks’ pattern is good rhetoric. If the mention of a ‘third way” reminds us of the first and second ways, which are clearly ‘too hot’ or ‘too cold’, it’s been an evocative and persuasive device. Literally, it has ‘moved’ our thinking, from one extreme to the other and back to the ‘just right’ solution, in this case New Labour. And to move someone’s thinking is the beginning of persuasion.

(By the way, if the ‘goldilocks’ label doesn’t appeal, you can always call it The Dialectical Pattern. That’s what we call the version outlined by German philosopher Hegel. His went from thesis, to antithesis and back to synthesis. Does it sound any more respectable now?)

So, patterns are memorable and moving. They are also ‘magical’. If magic is sometimes thought of as conjuring something out of thin air (rabbits out of hats, etc.), then handling questions on the spot is a little like that.

Leader Delta also runs a town meeting, every quarter. The sting here is the open Q&A session that includes questions from the floor plus those placed anonymously in a question box. Some answers are easy: a straightforward yes, no or number. Others are not. They might demand clarification, explanation, expressions of empathy, and/or diplomacy. For the latter, Delta normally uses one of several learned patterns to frame his answers.

For example, if asked about the problematical status of a project, he might respond using this simple three-part format: Where we are now, Where we want to be, What we have to do to get there. On another occasion he might answer like this: The origins of this issue; Where we’ve got to with it; What we will do next (both use the passage of time as the underlying pattern).

In producing instant patterns he outlines for himself, as much as the audience, where he will go with the topic. All he needs to do, after stating his outline, is to fill in the gaps—and he knows plenty about the issues. Hey Presto! —a structured, coherent response, on-the-spot. It’s like ‘magic’; a display of mental agility that informs, and earns respect. Again, patterns lie at the bottom of this ‘magic’.

Memorable, moving and magical: “The trick is to look for patterns”, said Gary Hamel, management strategist.

In summary:
• Good leaders recognise patterns
• They use them to make sense of a confusing world
• They also use them to convey that sense to others

100000000 or 100,000,000? Good leaders can ‘tell’ the difference.

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