First question: Have you ever played poker? I am referring to real poker, with real money at stake. (“Real” money, of course, being a relative term, mostly relative to your current net worth.)
Second question: Have you ever been losing at poker, with real money at stake?
You play differently when you’re losing than when you’re winning, don’t you? That’s because there’s more pressure when you’re losing.
And when there’s pressure, when the stakes are higher, we tend to play more conservatively. We risk less. In other words, we play not to lose, instead of playing to win.
It is human nature. When the pressure is on, we focus on what we could lose, rather than what we could gain.
The same dynamic that affects us at the poker table affects your team in the workplace. Professor Heidi Gardner, from the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard University, found that in high-pressure situations, teams get a kind of tunnel vision, focusing more and more on the risks of failure than the rewards of success. . Because of this, they resort to safe and conservative approaches instead of finding original solutions.
This is a problem because the safest course is not necessarily the best course.
Now, let’s be clear here. There may be times when the safe path is the best path. But how can you know that if you can’t compare it to other options?
When your team freezes, when they go into safe by default and stop thinking about these options, then basically everyone is saying, “The status quo is our best and, in fact, only bet.” And at this point, he has psychologically denied any possibility of a revolutionary solution, a solution that could move the situation forward instead of keeping it frozen where it is.
So how do you fix this? How do you get your team – with real consequences at stake – to continue generating original solutions?
1. Let Them Know Options Are Valued
Create a “two or more options for every challenge” culture. Be clear with your team that a single option is not an option. Make multiple choice a core value of the team and be consistent with it. When your team realizes that there is an expectation of “two or more options,” they will start generating those options.
2. Listen to everyone
Gardner also found that in high-pressure situations, teams tend to give in to higher-ranking members. But the truth is that good ideas can come from anyone. So instead of asking senior members what they think, ask everyone. Sometimes the youngest member of the team will see something, an information, a connection, a resource, that everyone else has missed.
3. Play “What if?”
I have written about this before. An easy way to generate creative ideas is to play “What if?” For example, ask your team questions like:
What if we had unlimited time to solve this problem?
What if we had to solve this problem with only $100?
What would happen if our competition faced this problem and solved it? How would they have done it?
By asking these and other “what if” questions, you force both you and your team to think about the problem differently, opening up the possibility of creative solutions you might not have otherwise seen.
It’s no fun losing at poker. I know. I’ve been there. But, in that and other high-pressure situations, there’s a world of difference between freezing and feeling helpless…and having options that could lead to an innovative solution.
