Option Solving Blog

At the end of our last all-party panelist session, they decided to pursue a second round “Peeling the Onion” to develop deeper insight options on how to create a national vision. By now the panel was very familiar with the seven steps involved with option solving, so they headed straight into a discussion about a likely question.

Following some considerable debate, with the help of their facilitator, the question and considerations they came up with were : “What will produce the best Peel the Onion option for agreeing on a consensus country vision + 1 vision from each major party + a national debate and referendum: considering the sheer challenge of creating a consensus vision, major parties coming up with extremist visions, getting people interested in a national debate, and encouraging people to turn out for a referendum vote?” These considerations were the key 50% of the eight listed.

With their question in place, they immediately produced two Yin and Yang “bookends” as a least-likely, option framework to eventually tease-out their more likely options. In our Latest Example, we also show the reasons why these two extreme options don’t “cut the mustard.” The “bookends” produced by the panel were as follows: “Make it all happen very quickly and get it over with,” at one end, with, “Make it a long drawn out process” at the other. You will see why the panel thought they were inappropriate.

They now had to develop at least five plausible options to build a picture of the best alternatives. You will find one of those options as: “3 months to produce 3 visions + national debate during election cycle + referendum during normal voting” …. which was Option E.

The panelists’ Option Solving pictogram was now in place. It was now time for them to take an emotional distancing break for allowing their minds to work through all the trade-offs with their options. Following roughly 20 minutes making phone calls and chatting about other things, they returned to the meeting table again to look at their pictogram on a large screen.

From there they were invited to take an anonymous vote on their most intuitive choice. Once the vote was in, they opted for creating a proposed action initiative while the whole issue was still fresh in their thoughts. You can make your own choice and action initiative, too.

If you have an issue example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Your best option for sticking with your New Year’s resolution.” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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We discover that our all-party panelists have decided on the C Option – “Agree on 3-4 consensus US visions, prior to a national debate, and followed by a National referendum.” However, they weren’t that sure how to proceed from there, so they opted to pursue a “Peeling the Onion” exercise to explore sub-option ideas. Of course “Peeling the Onion” is just a repeat exercise of the original dilemma, so our panelists did not have to be briefed on the seven option solving steps this time around.

After some appropriate discussion, under the orchestration of their facilitator, they produced the following question: “What would be the country’s best future alternative from producing 3-4 all-party, compelling, national visions, followed by national debate, followed by national referendum: considering there’s great party polarization, the US is rarely open to national referendums (other than elections), it would allow electorate to express its will, and it might open the way for fresh, national, visionary thinking?”” The considerations came out during a lively debate which produced a list of nine, but they reduced it to the 50% key ones so as not to make the question overwhelming.

Now that their question was in place, they set about producing two Yin and Yang “bookends” to provide a framework using their least likely options: along with the key reasons for setting them aside. You will find these in our Latest Example, which were as follows: “Wait for public pressure to build before any action is taken,” at one end, with, “Move ahead without consensus from all parties” at the other. Both of these were clearly unacceptable, but they would now prompt finding more optimal options.

Their facilitator now challenged them to fathom out at least five possibilities to maximize their ingenuity and flexibility in thinking. One of those options came out to be: “Agree on 3-4 consensus visions, plus one for each party: plus a national debate and referendum” …. which was Option B.

With their Option Solving pictogram in place, the panelists now took an emotional distancing break to catch up on other things and allow their minds to subconsciously churn through the pros and cons of all their options. After about 30 minutes, they returned to briefly consider their pictogram again and wrote their choice on an anonymous piece of paper to be gathered by the facilitator.
When their vote was tallied, they were again given the option of either going straight for an action initiative, while the whole issue was still fresh in their minds, or to pursue “Peeling the Onion” once more. They chose the latter again because they thought it would help unearth more option insights. Their second round of Peeling the Onion will be shared in two weeks time. If any readers have their own choices, please share them under the blog comments section.

If you have an issue example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area.
Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Next posting in 2 weeks: “Peeling the Onion with a sub-option devoted to America’s future.” We’re always interested in your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger.)

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