Reflections on the process

When a colleague advocates a particular solution, give them a fair chance to make their case. You can listen while also exploring alternatives. Gathering information from several sources and testing promising ideas can help the team compare its options.

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OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

WRAP stands for Widen your options, Reality-test your assumptions, Attain distance before deciding, and Prepare to be wrong. These five common obstacles show how to use the process when time, fear, or disagreement makes a decision difficult. A tripwire is a condition, such as a date or spending limit, that prompts you to reconsider a decision.

1. I’m a good decision maker, but I make decisions more slowly than I’d like and my choices end up being pretty cautious. How can I be quicker/bolder?

Advice: (1) Sounds like you lean toward the prevention mindset, so ask yourself promotion-minded questions such as, “How would I make this decision if I was focused on opening up opportunities for myself?” (2) Try asking yourself, “What would I advise my best friend to do?” Your caution may be the result of short-term fears (such as embarrassment) that aren’t that important in the long run. Attaining some mental distance may help you see that. (3) If you’re worried what will happen if your choice turns out poorly, consider setting a tripwire (based on a date or a budget) that will make you comfortable that you’ve limited your losses.

2. We are an understaffed firm in a chaotic market. We don’t have time to work through an elaborate process every time we make a decision.

Advice: Here’s an Express Version of the WRAP process. (1) Widen: Add one more option to your consideration set. (If you can’t think of one easily, look for someone who’s solved your problem, via your network of contacts or a simple Internet search.) (2) Reality-Test: Call one expert who can educate you about the “base rates” in your situation (for example, odds of success or typical timelines). (3) Attain Distance: Resolve tough dilemmas by asking which option best fits your core priorities. (4) Prepare: Bookend the future—spend an hour thinking about what could go wrong and what could go right, and then do something to prepare for both contingencies.

3. My spouse (or my coworker) wants to do something I think is crazy.

Advice: (1) Perhaps they’re falling prey to an overly narrow frame, thinking that the crazy idea is the only one that would achieve their goals. Can you propose a couple of other options that would be attractive but less wacko? (2) Can you get them to “go to the genba”? That is, can you send them on a mission where they will absorb useful texture and nuance? (For example, a budding jewelry designer might be sent to a crafts fair to count the underwhelming number of sales made by a particular jeweler in a 30-minute period.) (3) For an idea such as a topiary-sculpture business, use tripwires to specify how much time or money you are prepared to risk before reconsidering.

4. We analyze and analyze, but nothing ever seems to get decided.

Advice: (1) If your slowness is driven by “bargaining,” then maybe it’s worth the wait. Your team’s decision may improve as a result of considering different options and opposing views. (2) Are you analyzing something that would be quicker to test? Reframe your choice as a small experiment. (3) Ask the Andy Grove question: If you were replaced, what would your successors do? (4) If it’s fear of risk that’s making you slow to decide, do a premortem analysis and figure out ways to cap your potential losses.

5. The problem we have is that everyone is scared to make a decision. Doing anything new is a big career risk because you are putting your neck on the chopping block. It’s safer to keep doing what we’re doing.

Advice: (1) Try using the Roger Martin question: “What would have to be true for each option to be right?” Answering that question in a group can help distribute ownership of the decision. If everyone agrees on the “conditions” that you’ll use to make the final choice, then everyone is equally responsible for the decision. (2) Try ooching: run a small trial before making a larger commitment. If the trial flops, you’ve only taken a limited risk. (3) Mere exposure makes the status quo seem safe and comfortable, while new ideas seem risky. Try to make the new idea feel safer by finding someone else who has solved your problem. Talk up the fact that the solution already exists—someone else has already taken the risk. (4) Remember Dave Hitz’s comment that the “best way to defend a decision is to point out its flaws”? Acknowledge the risks in your idea AND set tripwires that specify the conditions under which you’d reverse yourself. (If you’ve publicly anticipated and prepared for bad outcomes, it’s less likely you’ll be scapegoated.)