JS Tip 584: The Need for Alternatives in Decision-making
Every decision involves four steps:
You face a choice. The black SUV is slowly moving into your lane. If you stay where you are, the SUV will squash your VW beetle like a bug.
You generate courses of action. You can stay where you are and get squashed. You can honk the horn and warn the other driver away. You can slow down and get out of the way.
You identify the best course of action. You weigh the danger and the hassle: You decide to slow down and get out of the way.
You act. You check your rear-view mirror. You touch the brakes. You get out of the way. The other driver never knows you’re there.
Many believe step three is the most important. The rational calculation. The determination of best interest. The weighing of self-interest versus group-interest.
We disagree. We suggest step two, “You generate courses of action,” is the most important and the least valued.
Because the quality of step three depends on the quantity of step two.
Author—and inventor of brainstorming—Alex Osborn explained the math: “Creative success is usually in ratio to the number of alternatives thought up. Thus, if we conceive 100 alternatives, our chances of landing the right idea are more than ten times greater than if we stop at ten alternatives” (Your Creative Power, 92).
But generating ideas is hard work. Judging the many ideas and determining the best is hard work. We often rationalize, “There’s not enough time.”
Members of the group are often reluctant to come up with alternatives. It’s seen as “rocking the boat.”
But how many times have you counseled, “There’s never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over”?
Leaders must encourage—and make safe—the development of alternative ideas. The quality and success of the decision depends on it.
We love this stuff. We really do.
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This Tip originally appeared eleven years ago in our old Jefferson Smith Newsletter. We think the ideas are still important today. Perhaps more so.