Decision-making and the benefits of change: Edward de Bono

Before the benefits of a new idea become visible there will often be a negative period of confusion, the disruption of systems, criticism, worries about the cost, etc. All the negative aspects of the new idea may be visible or imagined immediately – but the benefits can only be seen in the future – and then, only if you are minded to see them.

That's why it is so important to consider the future benefits of change as part of the decision-making process. Unfortunately, this rarely happens. For example, would a CEO with an uncertain term of office be willing to decide on change when the full benefits of such a change might only come in 20 years' time? It is not likely. There are types of change where the rewards are much more immediate. Problem-solving is an obvious example of a change which can show immediate benefits. The problem is hurting someone or the system. Solving the problem shows immediate benefits. Even if the benefits are not immediate, they can easily be foreseen.

So problem-solving is an attractive exercise. As a result, too much management thinking is focused on problem-solving. Creativity is only seen as an additional tool of problem-solving.

The result is that matters which are not problems and which are perfectly satisfactory never get attention. There is no will to suggest change in such areas because the benefits of changing are not immediately apparent.

Improvement is always more difficult than problem-solving. That is why slow, step by step, incremental improvement is much favoured. The risk is small and gradually the benefits become visible.

There are always two sorts of risk involved with change.

The first is that the proposed change may not work. So there is a loss of time, money, energy, reputation, etc. The second risk is that the idea might work too well, but that one of its side-effects is to hurt or damage the organisation's current operations. Just as perceived gain is a powerful motivator, so perceived risk is an equally powerful de-motivating factor. The ideal design of change is to suggest something where the benefits are easily perceived. In addition it should be possible to try the change in a pilot scheme or small area so that the benefits can be seen. These benefits would act as a motivator for extending the reach of the change. Such designs are not always possible.

You can point to the success of the proposed change in other areas. You can point to the success of somewhat similar changes. Neither of these is totally convincing because the reluctant people point to differences in circumstances – which may be valid.

The usual pattern of change is to let other people try it first. When the idea has been shown to work, then you come in with a 'me too' and seek to do it better than the initiator. There are examples both ways. Sony initiated the video recorder with the Betamax system, but then VHS took over. On the other hand, Sony kept its lead with the Walkman. First in the field may be successful – or it may not. Certainly the risk and the cost for those who are not first in the field is very much less. What is important in the design of change is to consider the time profile of the benefits. Author: Edward de Bono via management-issues.com

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Jim Woods CEO & President, InnoThink Group

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You Must View This! No Excuses! Janitor graduates from Columbia University

It is all an excuse. What excuses are holding you back? 

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Rethink Your Business Approach. Driving Top Line Growth through Effective Innovation

Strategies defining business in the 20^th Century no longer work in meeting today’s challenges. Companies are reinventing how they respond to consumers, employees and suppliers. At InnoThink Group we help companies find new methods of increasing top line growth and achieving competitive advantage. 

With InnoThink Group as your innovation partner, your company will create and implement growth strategies that work.

Innothink Group is a strategic management and innovation consultancy.

Our Guarantee. Where many consulting firms are reluctant to bear risks or tie their rewards to project outcomes, we decided to build a better model. We align our success with yours. We’re outcome obsessed, outcome paid, putting nearly two thirds of our fees at risk subject to hitting predetermined milestones. More than a guarantee we wanted from the outset to create true partnerships with shared responsibility. See a few of our clients. 

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Learning to Speak Up and Get What You Want

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Illustration: Guy Billout

Hanging back, dropping hints, and generally mousing around gets you nowhere and drives other people nuts. Here's what you should do instead.

"I want my husband to have more sex with me," a girlfriend remarks at lunch. "I feel like he rarely initiates it, and I want to do it more often."

"Did you tell him how you feel?" I ask, after the waiters have administered strong smelling salts and propped me back in my chair. "Don't you think that the first step might be saying that to him instead of me?"

"Honestly, I could never," she responds. "He would assume I was dissatisfied or accuse me of being a nag. But I've been buying lots of silk lingerie and sheer little nighties and making sure I look my best at bedtime, hoping to pique his interest. Besides, it's not like I necessarily want to have more sex per se, I just want him to want me to."

Right. So, she wants sex, but she doesn't want it. She merely wants her husband to want it so she can get what she wants—which, perversely, is something she doesn't particularly want. Wouldn't it cost less, both in mental and actual currency, if she were to sit out the dance, look him plain in the eye, and speak her mind? Why can't she say what she wants?

She's afraid that people will label her needy, bitchy, clingy, whiny. In other words, wanty. Wanty (known in Italy as volere, on New York's shrink-saturated Upper West Side as the id) is the hobgoblin who scrambles the signals so that wanting becomes a bad thing instead of a way to move forward. His cohorts are guilt and denial; his ace up the sleeve is fear of rejection.

What if I look stupid?

What if the answer is no?

What if, what if? So goes Wanty's refrain.

Wanty should not be confused with pure Want. Pure Want is the essence of living. It's the human condition, the slender quill that pricks the sectors of the soul, stimulating yearning or envy, desire or desperation. Nor should Wanty be mistaken for his cousin, Wishy, who pines for a more unattainable horizon and subsists on fountains glutted with coins, birthday candles, and the sternum bones of most poultry. Incidentally—spoiler alert—whoever grasps the wishbone higher up toward the joint will always win.

Wanty looks daggers at Wish and Want and shames them into silence. He flicks open the refrigerator door and slams it shut, thumbs through your credit card statements reproachfully, reaches out and shakes up your mind, juddering friendly old desires into unrecognizable enemies.

Do we even allow ourselves to know what we want?

"Where should we go for dinner?" I ask my husband.

"Wherever you want," he says.

I suggest a nice barbecue place around the corner. No, he says, he doesn't feel like barbecue. Chinese? No, he had Chinese food for lunch. Italian? No, too heavy. Thai? Too much like Chinese. Where, then, I repeat, does he want to go for dinner?

"I dunno. Wherever you want."

Kill me now.

  It wasn't always this way.

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