Clarity through ambiguity

Yesterday I was at meeting that was considering the impact of the proposed changes in the NHS for staff. It was suggested, rightly in my view, that one of the key tasks for the Board and other leaders/managers during these uncertain times was to provide 'clarity through ambiguity'. What was meant by this was that in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty, our role was to provide clarity and, to a greater or lesser degree, direction. No small task!

Enjoying, as I do, word play and language patterns I playfully considered how some government departments might truthfully adopt 'clarity through ambiguity' as their slogan - but with rather different meaning/intent to the one outlined above, i.e. as a true oxymoron.

And then I got to thinking about Milton Erikson (as an aside, am I the only Radio 4 listener in the UK who can't hear Erikson's first name without singing Milton Jones's theme tune?) and how with his 'artfully vague' language he helped (and those of us who have modelled some, at least, of our languaging on him, continue to help) people achieve clarity through ambiguity. Neat, huh?