Is it complex or complicated?
This week’s client leadership summit was at the Marriott in downtown Austin, and each time I used the elevators, I pondered “complex or complicated.”
I understand and appreciate the need to control floor access with keycards. I can see why, with a high-rise building, you might want to maximize the elevator efficiency so no one gets stuck stopping at 15 floors.
But the elevator management approach at this hotel was … irritating, ridiculous, and utterly inefficient.
It took what was complex—how to manage elevators in a high-rise with a requirement for limited access—and made it complicated.
To use these elevators, you press the “category” on the keypad. If you’re going to your room, you then press the number of your floor and scan your keycard. Whether a room floor or a public access floor, the display tells you (for about 3 seconds) which elevator to take by letter.
And then goes blank.
You have no indicator if the elevator is on its way and how many stops it might have on the journey. You stand in front of your elevator (if you didn’t miss directions on the display!) and hope it is coming. You get impatient and do it again. Finally, maybe, the elevator arrives … but since you went through the process twice you get two elevators. You get in, and the interior display tells you that you’ll have 3 stops before your floor … and no one gets on or off at 2 of them.
If you look up the definitions of complicated and complex, they’re similar. But I learned long ago that there are key differences.
Complex situations are made up of different and connected parts that need to be different and connected. Complex situations tend to be more organic and can drive value when managed appropriately. Simplification is possible, but it would harm the impact.
Complicated situations are also made up of different and connected parts, but generally, that doesn’t need to be the case. Complicated situations are often created by the system in which they exist, and can actually drain value. They likely can be simplified, and in doing so would have greater impact.
These elevators? Complicated. Not complex.
Of course, there’s too much investment in the complicated system to roll it back, regardless of how user-unfriendly it might be. That’s one of the key reasons complicated systems stick around.
And there’s a cost to that.
The next time you’re discussing a challenging situation, ask yourself if it’s complicated or complex. And if it’s complicated, challenge yourself to simplify it.
Hey there! I’m a leadership team whisperer, executive coach, and speaker. I guide leadership teams in high-growth companies to achieve rapid growth in a healthy, sustainable way. I coach senior leaders to discover the path to lead with ease.
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