You’ve just hired a receptionist with great computer skills, but poor people skills. Do you go through the costly and time consuming process of firing that person, or put up with the unsatisfactory performance in one area?
It’s a real world example from author Chip Heath, who presented his new book “Decisive, How To Make Better Decisions In Life and Work” at a breakfast gathering of HR professionals and business leaders hosted by Rocky Mountain HR Persons and Strategies. Heath said too often, we look at a decision as a thumbs up or thumbs down proposition, when we need to widen our perspective. He said, 70% of business decisions are made from this narrow, win-lose, point of view.
Heath proposed the “Vanishing Option” test as a solution. Instead of agonizing over one decision, take it off the table completely. Then what? It forces you to come up with new possibilities. In the case of the university receptionist, he asked the hiring manager, “What would happen if (the receptionist) didn’t have to greet people anymore?” There was a quick answer. “We could hire work study students, we did that when the receptionist was on vacation and it worked out great.”
He also provided some guidance for narrowing your options, when that’s needed. For instance, you have three great candidates. Who do you pick? He warned about “confirmation bias” where you unconsciously gather information that supports your preferences. That can happen during an interview. Better to run each candidate through some case studies, or better yet, hire them temporarily for a specific project. Then you can really watch how they perform on your team. It’s part of a process he called “Reality-test your assumptions.”
Heath gave some great reasons why a “gut check” isn’t the best approach for strategic decisions. Here are some better tools. Attain some distance before deciding. This doesn’t mean, “sleep on it,” another unhelpful cliché. Instead, he recommended applying the 10-10-10 rule. Ask, “what affect will this decision have in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years?” He said this process can be a quick way to weigh the outcome of a particular decision. Another approach to quickly crystalize the best course of action is to ask, “What would our successors do?” He said this question helped Intel’s Andy Grove side step short-term emotion, see the bigger picture and quickly decide that the company needed to switch its focus from computer memories to micro-processors.
Don’t be overconfident about the outcome of a decision, warned Heath. None of us are perfect decision makers. Instead, assess your decision as you move down the road. Have some plans in place or “trip-wires” to remind you to check how things are going. And prepare some options if the decision doesn’t turn out as planned. Heath said having a better process will help you make better, bolder decisions. You can read more in his book, “Decisive, How To Make Better Decisions In Life and Work.”