McKinsey’s MECE (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive) Framework has been used for structured thinking & communication by leading consultants, marketing professionals, journalists and other peer groups for five decades.
The concept of MECE was brought into the world by Barbara Minto, who worked at McKinsey in the 1960s and 1970s. She was the first female MBA that McKinsey hired. (Thanks to the popularity of MECE alone, she has proved to be big pay-off for McKinsey’s policy of diversity in recruitment!)
After being hired at McKinsey, she noticed that people around her struggled to think and write clearly and coherently. So, she devised a framework for clear and comprehensive communication and coined an Acronym to abbreviate it: MECE. MECE stands for Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive. Mutually Exclusive means distinctly separate and not overlapping or repetitive. Collectively Exhaustive means comprehensive – leaving out nothing that should be taken into account.
Every consultant worth his coffee has MECE in his communication toolkit today.
I have used it for years too. Notwithstanding its usefulness, I felt the framework needed augmentation. It was a vital ingredient, but not the entire recipe for effective communication. I propose ME(C)5E. I think this synthetic accretion, ME(C)5E, serves as a more comprehensive guideline for communicating clearly and comprehensively. I have coined it by connecting the dots from my study and learnings. I make no claims to originality. Like most creativity, it is synthesis. ‘Seeing-further-because-you-stand-on-the-shoulders-of-giants’ variety.
The first C in ME(C)5E is consumed in the “Collectively Exhaustive”. So, what do the other 4 Cs stand for?
C2 Code (of language); C3 Cluster; C4 Cascade; C5 Concise
To explain C2, Code of language, let me take the help of the research of another pioneer, Basil Bernstein. I use his research in a limited sense and add my own learnings to it to draw succinctly what I mean by code here.
As per Bernstein, there are two codes in which a language is used — Restricted code and Elaborate code.
Restricted code is imprecise, assumes shared understanding and can often be inaccurate. Elaborate code on the other hand is precise, well laid out, explicit and can stand firm on its own.
For example, while speaking of high corruption in bureaucracy, a person who speaks in restricted code may blurt: “All bureaucrats are corrupt.”
An elaborate code speaker would say: “The instances of corruption in bureaucracy seem much higher than in other professions.”
Note how the words are used to qualify in the elaborate code. Note also that the restricted code speaker may soon have to retract his statement for it lacks accuracy (surely there are honest bureaucrats too) whereas the elaborate code user can hold on to his averment. Elaborate code is accurate and responsible.
Bernstein says that he finds a greater preponderance of the elaborate code in higher classes. I have found that the elaborate code is also a ticket to the higher classes. This variation in how a language is used is a key to power and success. (Which doesn’t mean that it is a sine-qua-non in the higher classes as many an elite also communicate imprecisely but most of them do understand the importance of exactness in communication).
C3, Cluster – stands for grouping related ideas, concepts, or information together.
C4, Cascade – stands for sequencing the flow of points where one leads into the other. The rhythm makes it easy for the audience to follow -even remember- the narrative. Together Clustering and Cascading enable all the parts of the communication to fit well together.
C5, Concise – stands for avoiding unnecessary words, details and digressions. Communication should get to the point quickly and effectively. Brevity is the soul of wit as well as of beauty. It is also the soul of character – as it communicates to the other your concern for his time.
Following my own advice, let me stop here with the diagram below, of how I have tried to enrich MECE.
(The writer is Chairman of MTAI, Blue Circle and a best-selling author. )