Imagining You Are Helping Someone Else – the Key to Problem-Solving?

 Leadership, Wellbeing  No Responses »
May 262011
 

A recent piece of research reveals that most people are better at solving problems if they imagine the subject to be someone else rather than themselves.

Daniel Pink’s article in the Daily Telegraph, “Employees are faster and more creative when solving other people’s problems”, has compiled three pieces of research, in which the people involved were 1) asked to solve a problem involving a prisoner escaping from a cell; 2) draw a picture of an alien for a story and 3) come up with a gift.

The research showed that the closer the subjects perceived themselves to the problem, the least creative they were in their answers. For example, half of the group trying to solve the prisoner problem were asked to imagine that they were the prisoner and the other half were asked to imagine that the prisoner was someone else. While less than half of the “prisoners” managed to escape, more than two thirds of those imagining they were helping someone else, solved the problem.

The same thing happened in the other two experiments: those drawing an alien for someone else’s story were more creative than those drawing one for themselves. Similarly, those choosing presents for others were more imaginative when looking for gifts for people distant to them.

I wonder whether there is a simple technique here when we go over and over a problem, without reaching any kind of satisfactory solution. I do recognise in myself the ability to help others more than I help myself. So is the solution to pretend we are helping someone else? Using

If this weren’t my problem, but X’s problem, what would I say to them?

Distance helps our creativity in this way. I would love to know why – is it because we like to feel we are useful to others? Is it because we censor ourselves less when helping others? Can we be more creative because we don’t have to act on our own advice?

Thanks Mr Pink for raising this!

 

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Healthy Disagreement

 Leadership, Teams  1 Response »
May 242011
 

True, continuous agreement is virtually impossible to have in a team or a group. When everyone begins to agree constantly with our plans, our suggestions or our new strategies and the number of questions and doubts raised are close to cero, it might be time to get worried.

It either means that your team has handed over completely to you the responsibility for seeing things through or that individual disagreement is not being vocalised.

If you start noticing constant agreement as well as an absence of work-related conflict, you need to start monitoring this. Is agreement with your change proposals really the only way forward? Are you getting away with suggesting new procedures without supplying much data or detail? Have the number of questions, challenges or disagreements decreased lately? Has the spark gone from your strategic discussions?

Before you try to find out the reasons why this is happening, have a look around the organisation and see whether this is happening throughout. Furthermore, before you look at your team members’ behaviour, take a close look at yourself. Think of when you last voiced your doubts or expressed your disagreements to your management team, your peers or to those above you in the organisational hierarchy.

Unconditional agreement is dangerous – it can lead to flawed plans being implemented because no-one points out the risks; unconditional agreement can push away those maverick ideas that can turn threats into opportunities or which can turn a good project into a great one. The feeling that it’s not “cool” to disagree can easily de-motivate the brightest of sparks, those who care about their work, those who want to make a difference.

What is worse, if you don’t ensure that individuals are free to voice their disagreement, you might find yourself on the way to Abilene.

The Abilene Paradox

Jerry B Harvey used a short story to illustrate what happens when individuals in groups don’t voice their true opinions, assuming that they are the only ones thinking in that way. This can sometimes lead to a whole group committing to a course of action which no one wants to take.

I’ll briefly retell Harvey’s story here (you can read the second version of the article The Abilene Paradox After Thirty Years in Organisational Dynamics, 2004). One summer afternoon, Jerry, his wife and parents-in-law were having a nice quiet time at home in Texas. Suddenly, Jerry’s father in law suggested they take a trip to Abilene, about a two hours ride away in a car. Jerry thought this was a terrible suggestion as the town was far away, the heat was unbearable and they were already having a good time, but he didn’t want to disagree because he thought everyone else was excited by the idea. After four long hours travelling in a car with no air conditioning, all members of the group admitted they had only agreed to the trip because they thought everyone else was excited by it. They all had a terrible time on their Abilene adventure, which could have been avoided if only just ONE of them had expressed their doubts.

So, what might the Abilene paradox look like in a team in an organisation:

Hans, the team leader, has recently come up with a new strategy for finding new clients, which includes the organisation adopting a new social media plan. He is not sure about whether he has gone a bit overboard, trying to look at too many channels, so he presents the plan to his team.

Linda doesn’t want to raise her doubts to Hans. After all, Hans has carefully planned out the whole thing and is really passionate about the project.

Eric has serious doubts about the project but is concerned that no-one else around the table seems to have any objections.

Philip is new and younger than everyone else, so he is scared about coming across as a rebel or bad team member if he asks any difficult questions.

Anna has heard on the grapevine, that the other day someone in Accounting was given a warning for standing up to their boss.

And Hans has doubts about the strategy himself, which is why he brought the team together, although he hasn’t shared his doubts in order not to appear “weak”. The team seem to be 100% behind him – surely he can’t back down now. So the plan goes ahead, even though everyone thinks it should be altered in some way.

 

You can see that the team has missed an opportunity to build on what was probably quite a decent base and make it into something they could commit to. Best case scenario, Hans’ plan was OK and the team ended up with a strategy they could improve on with time. Worse case scenario, the plan did indeed have many weak spots and the team ended up wasting a lot of time and money.

There are many reasons why people, such as Hans’ team members, will not express their disagreement in a group. Like Linda, they might be scared of “spoiling the party”. Like Eric, they might not want to be the odd-one out. Like Philip they might be inexperienced and don’t want to come across as disruptive. Like Anna, they might be scared of becoming a likely candidate for redundancy.

There are some signs you can look out for which might signal that your team members are beginning to avoid speaking out.

  • Are those who disagree being shut down?
  • Does everyone agree quickly to the first solution offered and fail to see the need for contingency plans?
  • Are the honest conversations taking place in the corridors and not at team meetings?

These might be indicators that your team members are feeling like they have to conform.

So how can we make sure our teams don’t go to Abilene?

  • Give permission to others to speak up and disagree with you. But do it again and again, as people might not have the confidence to speak out straight away and they might need a smaller push.
  • Don’t assume that everyone agrees with you because they don’t say otherwise. Silence does not always mean agreement.
  • Welcome the contributions of those who express disagreement and encourage them to share the reasoning behind their thinking.

Disagreement can be healthy if it is completely work-focused. Make sure this kind of conflict stays work related, that people are specific with their comments and that solutions are sought to the problems raised. Hopefully, this will help to avoid many trips to Abilene.

 

 

 

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Communication and Transparency: Key to Managing the 21st Century Team

 Leadership, Teams  No Responses »
May 192011
 

A brief article was posted on the strategy + business website outlining the challenges of managing a team made up of both on-site and remote workers. The solutions offered to meet these challenges are all based on sound communication and transparency.

The main challenge that team leaders and managers might face in working with both on-site and remote team members is that both groups can easily perceive that they are being treated differently. So, as a first step in tackling any perception of preference/inequality, it is important that the reasons why someone can work remotely are made clear.

The need to pay extra attention to the team-building aspect of a leader’s job is also highlighted. The breakdown in face-to-face communication cannot be ignored and needs to be replaced by something else, such as a virtual space. The same technology that is allowing us to work remotely, should be used to ensure that we keep united.

If it is common to see the breakdown of communication in teams where members share the same location, you can imagine how easy it is for communication to become negligible between people who rarely share the same physical space. It cannot be ignored but it can be structured, so that it becomes second nature for everyone to communicate in a different way.

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Creating a Learning Environment

 Leadership  2 Responses »
May 112011
 

Managers, directors and team leaders are in the unique position of having the authority to influence how their team operates. This includes the opportunity to create an environment where people grow professionally both individually and as a team. Whether you make this part of your job description will depend on yourself, your work load, your resources and your organisation.

It does, however, make business sense to identify the development of teams and individuals as a core business objective, as it will affect the organisation’s performance. Learning can happen at the same time as your objectives are being met. Monitoring a project together can help team members to gain an insight into areas they are not directly responsible for, therefore gaining a greater understanding of the team’s aims and organisation’s strategy; delegating part of the induction process of a new team member to an existing one will help both team-building and develop communication skills; inviting a promising team member to a meeting with a tricky client and debriefing the meeting afterwards, might help you see ongoing issues from a different point of view  as well as giving your team member an insight into the advocacy role of the leader.

Time and resources are scarce at the moment – but the learning opportunities are definitely out there. We just have to exercise our creativity and keep up with this rapid changing environment.

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How Chaos can Lead to Prejudice

 Leadership, Teams, Wellbeing  1 Response »
May 042011
 

Consider this scenario:

A dirty street. A bleak, late afternoon. The street is empty. You spot a person across the road. Same race, same height, same clothing, same hairstyle. For a split second you’re alert, but then you carry on, feeling no sense of danger.

And then you come across another person. Different race, different physiology, different clothes, different hairstyle. You feel your body tensing up. Your jaw tightens. After you’ve passed them, you relax. And you feel a little bit ashamed – am I scared of them just because they look different to me?

Same street. But the rubbish collectors have now ended their strike. The street is clean. The sidewalks seem wider. The two abandoned cars have finally been towed away. You pass a person in the street. Same race, same height, same clothing, same hairstyle. Not even a fleeting sense of danger. You pass another person – different race, different physiology, different clothes, different hairstyle. “I love the mix of people in this town”, you think to yourself.

A simple story, but one that illustrates the facts uncovered by recent research in The Netherlands. As reported in The Naked Scientist, researchers in Utrecht cleverly used a strike by cleaners at the train station to prepare the perfect setting for their experiment. I quote from the article on the NS website:

“Asking a mixture of white men and women to take part in a questionnaire, the researchers invited the participating commuters to sit on one of a line of six chairs, a seat at one of which was already occupied by either a white or black assistant. Unbeknown to the volunteers, the researchers were watching which seat in the row they elected to sit on.

When the station was messy at the height of the strike, the participants sat, on average, 50% further away from the already-seated individual compared with when the station was tidy – but only if he was black. When the already-seated individual was white, there was no difference between tidy and messy days and the participating commuters left an average of two empty seats between themselves and the person already sitting down.” (To read the whole article, click here.)

This difference in behaviour between chaotic and orderly surroundings cannot be ignored in organisations. In chaotic surroundings, we will try to create our own stability, our own order, sometimes resorting to stereotyping to simplify our thinking.

Whereas the application of this to the physical work environment is obvious (please, tidy up after yourself), it’s worth taking it one step further, applying it to the “inner world” of the organisation or team, especially in times of change.

How might team members cope in times of uncertainty?
How might their relationships change? Might there be more polarisation? Might “cliques” start to emerge?
Is there anything that can be done in order to reduce this perception of chaos?

A complex issue, but an ever present one.

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