Click, UnClick, Rewind: timeTraveling tools for discussions…

Did you ever wish you could stop the time? Or do you ever wish you could take back something you said?

During McCarthy bootcamps we experimented with 2 protocols that allowed you exactly that.

The Click protocol let’s you stop the time.

When the team met with their black hats (managers), anyone in the team would say CLICK! At that moment the managers freezed for 30 seconds. During these 30 seconds the team can discus anything without the managers hearing anything.

Compare this with a pauze button on a DVD-player (thank to Vickie Gray for the metaphor)

After the 30 seconds the managers unfreeze automatically.

What is the sense of doing this?

Where you ever in a situation where you are asked a question that you did not expect?

That’s when you need to use CLICK!

Instead of answering without thinking, you can consult your team. And if 60 seconds are not enough, you can re-click when the previous click is finished.

UnClick:

At any moment between click! and the automatic unfreeze, you can also say UnClick, which will unfreeze the freezed people.

Rewind:

Any moment between Click! and the unfreeze, I can say rewind till x and the unfreeze will happen at the moment you say.

So rewind, let’s you also go back in time.

Imagine you say something stupid. When you realize you did something stupid, you say:

Click, rewind to before I said X

For me that is a great way to experiment reporting to a manager.

I even know a couple that uses it when they have have discussions between them. (Yes admit it, when you discuss with your partner you say stuff you know are stupid while saying them. ) Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say: stop I ment something else.
Yes it’s still worse as not saying anything (During an argument I doubt most partners are able to completely ignore the stupidity you just said. At least they know that you think it’s a mistake and want to correct it.)