You know what it’s like; you’re in a meeting in the middle of a deep discussion when suddenly someone makes a comment that just doesn’t seem to make any sense to you. It’s as if they’re in a different meeting. And what’s more, their comment seems to be slowing things down.

So what do you do?

Well, you might try to ignore it and remind people of what was being discussed before the person made their comment. Or, you may attempt to ‘put them straight’, get them to realise the error of their ways, and force your viewpoint on them.

And then what happens?

Well you may be successful and they go quiet, disengage from the meeting, and stop attempting to contribute (at least for a while). Or they may argue their point, so you end up with a head to head confrontation, with neither party prepared to back down.

Sound familiar? Now ask yourself, what has this achieved?

At best it’s alienated someone from the meeting, and at worst it’s ended up in a confrontation that brings progress to a halt.

So, how can you achieve a better outcome? How can you ensure everyone is engaged, working cooperatively, and the team is getting the most out of each member?

Well the first thing to think about is how the other person came to make their comment.

The vast majority of people believe that we all perceive things as they are, i.e. we understand the reality of what is going on. But think about it, if that is the case then how is it possible for the supporters of two opposing football teams to have completely different views about the factors that led one of the teams to score. Surely there is only one explanation, so how can they have different opinions?

Clearly, different people see things differently and they do that because every one of us applies our own unique ‘filters’ and ‘thinking patterns’ to each situation we encounter.

These filters derive from the beliefs we have formed about ourselves, others and the world. Such beliefs are in turn based upon our interpretation of life experiences. People learn to apply these filters in a consistent way. In other words, they develop thinking patterns or strategies that they apply in different types of situation. This helps us to move through life and work more effectively and faster because we don’t have to keep evaluating what each object, stimulus, action or situation means; we simply run our mental software, our filters. By so doing, we only take notice of those factors in the environment that we believe are important.

Of course, we do not do this consciously; this happens automatically and is something we do unconsciously. Just as you can walk, talk, pick up a mug of coffee etc without any thought of controlling the muscles involved in those actions, so we run our own mental software without any conscious effort. In fact, we are often completely unaware of the nature of the beliefs and thinking patterns that we apply in different situations.

As you will appreciate, no two people have the same experiences or interpret experiences in the same way. This means that we all develop different beliefs, thinking patterns and filters.

Now, at this point you might be thinking that is all very interesting, but so what?

Well, in a nutshell it means that we all experience the environment in a different way. We all have our own unique ‘map of the world’ and we interact with this map rather than with reality. So each individual learns to ‘filter out’ the information they consider to be extraneous and only attend to aspects of the environment that they perceive to be relevant. Consequently different people perceive and appreciate different things in the same situation.

This becomes more apparent when you begin to think about the people you work with. Some people may see the ‘big picture’ whilst others focus on details. Some people may only consider the upsides of a course of action whilst others perceive problems and risks.

And that is what can cause problems. Equally, that is what can open up opportunities. It all depends how you view the situation!

It’s easy to think that you are ‘right’; that you have ‘correctly’ evaluated the situation and identified the factors to consider, or devised the most ‘logical’ strategy. Yet just because you don’t think certain factors are important or worthy of consideration doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not. Unfortunately, not considering alternative points of view can often lead to poor decisions, which may in turn have unwanted consequences.

The concept of ‘Groupthink’ illustrates how ignoring alternative viewpoints can lead to dire outcomes.

Groupthink, a term conceived by Irving Janis, provides an example of how team members with doubts or different points of view can be pressurised to keep their views to themselves in order to maintain the unity and consensus of the group1. The Bay of Pigs, the downfall of Swissair, the Challenger Shuttle disaster and the failed globalisation strategies of BA and Marks & Spencer in the 1990’s are just a few examples that have been linked with groupthink, and a failure to consider alternative viewpoints1,2,3,4.

So next time you’re in a meeting and someone makes a comment that doesn’t seem to make sense to you in the context of the discussion, or is at odds with what most of the group appear to think, you might wish to take a different approach.

Recognise that other people will see things differently and, as such, that will provide opportunities to avoid unwanted consequences and to develop better decisions

Try and understand how they are seeing the world in order to be able to make the comment. Ask them questions such as:

• How they came to that conclusion or point of view?
• What they believe makes their comment important?
• What will be the outcome of acting upon the comment?
• What would happen if the team failed to consider the factors underpinning their comment?

Of course, you may still find that you do not agree with their comment even after you have ‘looked through their eyes’ at the situation. However, you may also find that you gain some new perspectives that allow you to amend your thinking.

Either way, both team dynamics and the contributions of team members are likely to improve.

Mike Pollitt is an Executive Coach with True Progress Limited. He is a Master Practitioner of NLP and an NLP Coach. For more information about Mike or True Progress visit: www.trueprogresscoaching.com.

References

1. http://www.psysr.org/about/pubs_resources/groupthink%20overview.htm
2. http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-groupthink.html
3. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/groupthink-when-good-people-make-bad-decisions-westerhaus-renfrow
4. http://work.chron.com/groupthink-examples-business-21692.html