Option Solving Blog

Our last example set the stage for encouraging people within your organization to wear masks for Covid safety reasons. This could either be done either at your venture’s key leader level or for any teams within your organization. By opting to work with your key leader team, it chose Option A: Encourage wearing masks to reduce virus impact. This then created the challenge for your key leader team to figure out the best mode for getting everyone in your organization on board: hence their return to an option solving question to set them off on an optimum track.

Your key leader team’s rational question turned out to be: “Peel the Onion: What is our optimum approach toward personal safety and health in our COVID world – Option A: Encourage wearing masks to reduce virus impact; considering 1) causes claustrophobic feelings in some people, 2) some are embarrassed to wear one, 3) others doubt the science, and 4) yet others are immature about a team requirement?” You will see it held itself to four considerations, to reduce the complexity of the team’s decision-making when the moment arrives: despite there being other possibilities out there.

Now your leader team developed two appropriate yin and yang “bookends”,as these would help keep their intuitive minds focused. Bookends such as these are vital for preventing our fertile intuitive minds from wandering and losing concentration. We are mostly unaware of how powerfully valuable but foot-loose our intuition can be unless we can keep it properly focused on such occasions.   

Two bookends came to mind as: “Allow team members to do their own thing” –will create unnecessary tensions,and “Pursue a mandatory approach” – will dramatize any immature behaviors. You will note the italicized detractors associated with these least likely options. Even so, these bookends will now nudge your key leader team’s intuitive thinking into high gear – see ourLatest Worked Example.

It was then important to come up with at least five realistic options, although your leader team ultimately came up with six within a decent amount of time. The team could  then pursue emotional distancing, which is a form of objective thinking, before making its choice sometime after that …perhaps after 2 hours, later in that day, or first thing the following morning. You can replace their proposed options with any of your own. You will note one of their possible options as: Option FF: Record # of organization days without Covid infection by wearing “named” company/team masks.

In fact, your key leader team members came back to these within an hour or so, after discussing other important matters, and did make the choice of Option FF. From there, they were then able to put together an action initiative, while things were still fresh. They felt that by producing company/ team named masks everyone would feel a sense of team-belonging within the organization.

If you have an example of your own, please share it with this blogger, through the COMMENTS area or contact him at peter@ileadershipsolutions.com .  Thanks Option Solving. (NOTE: Our next posting will be in two week’s time: “What will be your optimum New Year strategic priority?” Let’s have your COMMENTS or go to peter@ileadershipsolutions.com to connect with the blogger. Also consider buying the book: “Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options” through amazon.com)

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