Stepping into the ZOUD
The Comfort Paradox
Professor Cliff Bowman of Cranfield School of Management noticed when researching teams that they only became truly productive when they enter a ‘Zone of Uncomfortable Discussion’ (ZOUD).
The avoidance of uncomfortable discussion is an attempt to teeter around conflict and at its worst is a denial of ‘what is’. The ZOUD is a tool to facilitate uncomfortable discussion. It is a little like the use of the phrase “to play devil’s advocate”. It gives people a framework into which you can step for the conversation. It signals a language and crucially de-personalises the issue. It acknowledges in a grown-up way that of course there are difficulties and issues and that they should be aired; this is the place to do it. “We are listening, we are supportive, we are ready to learn”. It tells people that they are safe and okay and that things are going to be alright.
How to introduce the ZOUD
Teach your staff about the ZOUD, say that you want to use it as a school. Explain how you want to do this. Build it into meetings, have it as an agenda item, “Right let’s move into the ZOUD, what needs to arise?” Use it with colleagues, “I need to go into the ZOUD about this”. Allow the ZOUD to enable open speech.
Perhaps the power of the ZOUD can best be encapsulated in how it enables and protects relationships. “What I love about the ZOUD” said an Assistant Head “is that we can have really robust disagreements in our meetings, not arguing or shouting but really saying what we think and then go to the pub together later that week and it is all absolutely fine, no strange tensions. We all understand the time and place for disagreement and why we are talking about difficult things, but it doesn’t affect out relationships.”
The ZOUD is the catalyst to enable more open speech and as such is a key tool to building connection and trust in your school.
“The ZOUD is like a comfortable sofa to sit on when you need to challenge.” said a member of the SLT following its introduction. “It has given agency and legitimacy to challenging one another, being something that is natural and normal rather than a bolt from the blue.”
