set up for success

Advance Warning

Landing at a large airport contains many sights. The other day, when taxing to the gate, we passed a training fire exercise, which caught the attention of a few passengers on my flight. The pilots did not mention the fire in advance as a courtesy to reduce the alarm, but eventually, the passengers worked out that the flames did not merit panic.

How can we provide advance warning to our constituents when we anticipate turbulent events on the horizon that might not be visible from their perspective? How might we set people up for success? Treating our fans to an amusement ride, where masking adrenaline-inducing drops and climbs is a key part of the design, is welcomed if that is the agreement; otherwise, broadcasting the forecast might be more beneficial.

Symbols

Navigating relies on our ability to piece together clues and landmarks. A well-placed symbol might set us up for success in a country where the language is unfamiliar.

How might we use language and symbols to help our fans navigate? How might our websites, social media, publications, events, and programs clarify where to find us? When we create unintended barriers to entry, we start encounters with frustration and confusion.

Pre-Treating

In preparation for a forecasted snowstorm, the local road department might pre-treat the roads with magnesium chloride. The application works best if done in the hours before the first snowflakes fall. Miss the window of opportunity and the effectiveness of the product is marginal. It is the same with relationships. Ask your new neighbor for a 5 AM ride to the airport upon the first introduction; it might not establish a foundation for friendship. Make the same request after you assist the neighbors with moving furniture into their house, invite them to the neighborhood party, and remind them of an anomaly in the HOA rules; the reciprocation might be more favorable. How are you pre-treating your neighborhood (and those you serve) to set them up for success?

Helpful or Unnecessary?

When are our attempts to set others up for success redundant? Where should we allow for serendipity? How might we frame an opportunity without announcing the ‘moving sidewalk is ending, prepare to step forward?’ Do we need to sign every vantage point and are the moments that have been scripted as remarkable os those we encounter unexpectedly?

How might we allow for wayfinding without providing every adventurer the same script? Even the Wizard of Oz’s Yellow Brink Road presented numerous unexpected side quests.