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The Power of Group Problem Solving
Have you ever played one of those educational survivor games? They typically have you shipwrecked or plane wrecked with a group of individuals and what appears to be a random collection of salvageable items. You have to rank the usefulness of those items in helping the group survive. You do your own ranking first and then you work in a small group to rank them after listening to all opinions. Then there is a whole lot of scoring and comparing.
What you learn beyond a doubt is not only some survival tips but also that group-think surpasses individual brainpower almost every time. About 80-90% of groups get a score higher than that of any individual in their group. So if you weren't already realizing just how powerful group thinking is, these games are a fun way to settle the issue.
So why don't we owners share more of our company challenges with our staff? Why don't we get everyone working on how we will achieve a 40% gross profit? Or how we'll sell and produce $750,000 this year? Or how we can streamline the sales to production handoff? Or how we might creat an incentive for our staff?
For some remodelers this openness just comes naturally. But for most it is very scary. For years they've been the "Little Red Hen" doing everything for the company. Often their first hires are poor ones while they learn how to be a more accomplished hirer. They hide their financial reports being sure that their 3% net will cause a revolt among their employees.
Even more prevalent is the idea that when there is a system needed, or a checklist, or a list of core values, that the simplest, quickest and most efficient way to get it done is for the owner to do it for everyone. And that is the simplest, quickest and most efficient way to get it done. But then how do we sell what we have done to the staff? That is the hard part. They don't "own" it. There is no "buy-in." In fact there may well be resistance and argument. Yes, we saved time on the front end but we're losing it in implementation and, in fact, we may fail overall.
So if we look at the entire process of devising a solution, applying it, improving it, making it a habit, then the simplest, quickest and most efficient way is by involving everyone from the start. Not only that, but the group is likely to come up with a better solution! Groupthink is not neat and tidy. Democracy takes longer. But the results are much better.
You learn some other important concepts from those survival games. You learn about conscensus. How does a group of varying opinion get to a final decision after they have heard all the different ideas. It's sort of like a jury. There is usually a prevailing decision and those who are less enthusiastic with it need to agree they can live with it. So these games teach the meaning of concensus in decision-making.
In that occasion when an individual in a group scores higher than the group itself, it usually signals that whoever was the group leader did not get everyones' input. We all recognize there are more vocal and less vocal folks. The best solution might lie with the latter so the group leader needs to be able to pull out the best from everyone.
These games also teach the importance of developing the right strategy before you start answering what you think is the question. Depending on whether the group decides its best survival strategy is sending the two hardiest members for help, or that all will stay together and wait to be discovered or all members will hike to help, the rankings of the salvage items change drastically. If half the members are thinking one solution and the others are figuring another, we know we'll have dissension because we haven't decided our basic strategy yet.
I haven't even mentioned one of the biggest benefits of group participation. It frees you up as owner. You are preparing your company for your 4-week trip to Figi. By the time you leave, you know they'll be equipped to handle the toughest problems together. So start planning which bathing suit you are going to pack. Share the good, the bad and the ugly with your staff and stand back and prepare to be surprised by just how well they do.
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Official Charity of 2008
Remodelers Advantage Inc.
535 Main Street, Suite 211
Laurel, MD 20707
ofc: 301-490-5620
fax: 301-498-6869
Info@RemodelersAdvantage.com