MuddleBusters — The Movie
Amity (means Friendly), Andrew (means Builder) and Rona (means Wise Ruler) are the MuddleBusters team. Wearing their hazmat suits, they carry their custom BusterThrusters named “Engagement” (Amity), “Process” (Andrew), and “Leadership” (Rona). They prowl the city searching for pockets of MuddleFluster to clear out.
Their secret headquarters are in a non-descript ramshackle building in a nearly deserted run-down industrial section of the city. Anyone given entry through the inconspicuous door is amazed to see a sparkling high-tech facility hidden within. On the roof is a slowly rotating scanner, seeking out the signature signal of MuddleFluster. When the signal is detected, the scanner locks on and sends the data to the MuddleFlusterBusterSummoner, a black box the size of a microwave oven, located in an otherwise empty room at the center of the MuddleBusters headquarters. There the MuddleFlusterBusterSummoner analyzes the signal, determines the location of its origin, and sends a wireless message to the MuddleBusters Team via their mobile devices to dispatch them to the crisis scene.
Responding to one such summons, when they arrive at scene the MuddleBusters encounter a group of varied stakeholders, struggling to find an effective solution to a complex and contentious issue. But being mired in Muddle and flustered by their helplessness, they are stuck. Just in time, the MuddleBusters with their BusterThrusters are able to activate the Collaborative Solution-Discovery paradigm.
Illuminating the scene with the welcoming glow from the BusterThruster named “Engagement”, they query the stakeholders regarding the issue confronting them, and their concerns, values, interests, fears and aspirations. From this, they help the stakeholders to formulate a statement of the problem, and compile a Definition of Success that contains all the qualities of outcome of concern to the various stakeholders.
That done, they turn on the probing beam of “Process.” Shining the beam everywhere, both in likely and unlikely places, they help the stakeholders find the way to possible solutions that will actually work, endure in the challenge of unexpected change, and creatively bridge what at first seemed like intractable conflicts among stakeholders. Then, with the stakeholders they explore how the various options will be evaluated and fine-tuned, leading selection of the preferred solution that best fulfills the Definition of Success in the most equitable manner.
Finally, turning on the clear light of “Leadership,” they inspire the stakeholders to go forward with the Solution-Discovery process they have set up under the guidance of wise leaders who empower participants, competently managing the process, while remaining neutral toward whatever solution may emerge.
With all the elements of a good Collaborative Solution-Discovery project in place and ready to go, the MuddleBusters depart the scene, leaving the stakeholders equipped to execute the process in a fluster-free manner. Meanwhile the MuddleBusters continue to seek out other festering cases of MuddleFluster to dispel.