It is said that whenever the former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, whose policy of detente led to a significant relaxation in US-Soviet tensions, asked his foreign policy team for options, it would present three scenarios. The first would advocate unconditional surrender to the Soviet Union. The second would result in a thermonuclear war. And the third would invariably be the one the team wanted him to act on.
In other words, the forces that influence people's decisions are predictable: they systematically intervene to sway behaviour. Yet, they are also unexpected: people generally do not realise these forces are influencing their decisions. That's the basic premise of Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, And How We Can Stick To The Plan by psychologist and Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino. Through 10 refreshingly jargon-free chapters, accompanied by helpful case studies and snap polls, Gino argues that most people want to behave in ways that are consistent with their self-image as competent, effective and honest human beings. Yet, even when they are fully committed to acting according to their best intentions, they often reach outcomes that bear little resemblance to their initial goals.
So why do people often get sidetracked? In sum, Gino says there are three sets of forces that explain how organisations (and their managers) go off track as they implement their plans: forces from within, forces from our relationships with others, and forces from the outside world.
Forces from relationships refer to factors that characterise ties and interactions with others. People are social human beings, and relationships are beneficial to their well-being. Yet, bonds with others often derail their decisions due to various factors, such as the difficulty of taking the perspective of others, the similarities people share with others, and the comparisons they make between others and themselves.
Finally, forces from the outside world refer to situational factors that sidetrack people's decisions. They include irrelevant information, subtle differences in the way decisions are framed, and the structure of the context in which people operate.
Some of the research findings outlined in the book are particularly amusing. Consider an example she uses to demonstrate how all us have a unduly positive view of ourselves. This is a 1997 US News and World Report survey asking 1,000 Americans a simple question: "Who do you think is most likely to get into heaven?" Overall, the respondents believed that then-president Bill Clinton had a 52 per cent chance, basketball superstar Michael Jordan had a 65 per cent chance, and Mother Teresa 79 per cent. Yet, interestingly, someone else ranked even higher: the person participating in the survey. Respondents rated themselves as having an 87 per cent chance of passing through the pearly gates - and thus as more virtuous, overall, than Mother Teresa.
The good thing is that Sidetracked… doesn't leave it at that. The book indentifies people's systematic shortcomings and suggests ways to fix them as well.
So how do you avoid getting sidetracked because of your exaggerated view of yourself? Gino's solution is simple: "raise your awareness." By raising your awareness, you can keep your self-views in check and recognise when they may be taking you off track. Becoming more aware of the information that enters our thinking as we consider different courses of action, and of how much of it we end up using, is an important step toward making sure that our own opinions receive the appropriate weight in our decisions.
Take another example from the book. Imagine you are negotiating under a deadline. Your plan is to reach a good deal in the negotiation. A narrow focus is likely to lead you to hide the information about your deadline: in your own eyes, it is a weakness, so why would you tell the other side about it? As it turns out, your deadline is a shared constraint; so telling the other side about it would lead to quicker concessions and better deals for you. The principle that can help us avoid getting sidetracked because of a narrow focus is what she calls "zoom out". By zooming out, you can include more relevant information in your decision-making process so that you can avoid decision derailment.
Sounds simple, but how many times do we actually think of all this before leaping to a solution? Mind you, Gino is by no means alone in advising individuals and leaders of businesses to respect and encourage the hidden influencers. But what separates Sidetracked… from some other books on decision making is an in-depth exploration of the "human" obstacles as opposed to the "organisational" obstacles that can inhibit sound decision-making processes.
SIDETRACKED
Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick To The Plan
Francesca Gino
Harvard Business Review Press
231 pages; Rs 995
In other words, the forces that influence people's decisions are predictable: they systematically intervene to sway behaviour. Yet, they are also unexpected: people generally do not realise these forces are influencing their decisions. That's the basic premise of Sidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, And How We Can Stick To The Plan by psychologist and Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino. Through 10 refreshingly jargon-free chapters, accompanied by helpful case studies and snap polls, Gino argues that most people want to behave in ways that are consistent with their self-image as competent, effective and honest human beings. Yet, even when they are fully committed to acting according to their best intentions, they often reach outcomes that bear little resemblance to their initial goals.
So why do people often get sidetracked? In sum, Gino says there are three sets of forces that explain how organisations (and their managers) go off track as they implement their plans: forces from within, forces from our relationships with others, and forces from the outside world.
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Forces from within include factors that lodge in people's minds and hearts. Examples include people's inaccurate and overly positive beliefs about their abilities and competence, the emotions caused by events unrelated to the decision at hand, and an overly narrow focus when evaluating information to inform their decisions.
Forces from relationships refer to factors that characterise ties and interactions with others. People are social human beings, and relationships are beneficial to their well-being. Yet, bonds with others often derail their decisions due to various factors, such as the difficulty of taking the perspective of others, the similarities people share with others, and the comparisons they make between others and themselves.
Finally, forces from the outside world refer to situational factors that sidetrack people's decisions. They include irrelevant information, subtle differences in the way decisions are framed, and the structure of the context in which people operate.
Some of the research findings outlined in the book are particularly amusing. Consider an example she uses to demonstrate how all us have a unduly positive view of ourselves. This is a 1997 US News and World Report survey asking 1,000 Americans a simple question: "Who do you think is most likely to get into heaven?" Overall, the respondents believed that then-president Bill Clinton had a 52 per cent chance, basketball superstar Michael Jordan had a 65 per cent chance, and Mother Teresa 79 per cent. Yet, interestingly, someone else ranked even higher: the person participating in the survey. Respondents rated themselves as having an 87 per cent chance of passing through the pearly gates - and thus as more virtuous, overall, than Mother Teresa.
The good thing is that Sidetracked… doesn't leave it at that. The book indentifies people's systematic shortcomings and suggests ways to fix them as well.
So how do you avoid getting sidetracked because of your exaggerated view of yourself? Gino's solution is simple: "raise your awareness." By raising your awareness, you can keep your self-views in check and recognise when they may be taking you off track. Becoming more aware of the information that enters our thinking as we consider different courses of action, and of how much of it we end up using, is an important step toward making sure that our own opinions receive the appropriate weight in our decisions.
Take another example from the book. Imagine you are negotiating under a deadline. Your plan is to reach a good deal in the negotiation. A narrow focus is likely to lead you to hide the information about your deadline: in your own eyes, it is a weakness, so why would you tell the other side about it? As it turns out, your deadline is a shared constraint; so telling the other side about it would lead to quicker concessions and better deals for you. The principle that can help us avoid getting sidetracked because of a narrow focus is what she calls "zoom out". By zooming out, you can include more relevant information in your decision-making process so that you can avoid decision derailment.
Sounds simple, but how many times do we actually think of all this before leaping to a solution? Mind you, Gino is by no means alone in advising individuals and leaders of businesses to respect and encourage the hidden influencers. But what separates Sidetracked… from some other books on decision making is an in-depth exploration of the "human" obstacles as opposed to the "organisational" obstacles that can inhibit sound decision-making processes.
SIDETRACKED
Why Our Decisions Get Derailed, and How We Can Stick To The Plan
Francesca Gino
Harvard Business Review Press
231 pages; Rs 995