Clarity vs Certainty: How to avoid "Hedging Bet" Words

How we crave for certainty! But its not coming. Get over it! We have a desperate search for more and more information, so that we can be certain of our outcome. From a leadership angle that leads to analysis paralysis and the team stays put with no action on the ground. 

One good way to break out of anaysis-paralysis is to do a 'what's-the-worst-thing-that-could-happen' exercise. Having done that the fear factor lessens and in most cases you are able to move ahead. 

Instead we push for Clarity - getting our direction clear, making an assumptions list, testing as many as we can. We can tell the team - 'This is what we know. These are the three assumptions we are making. This is the risk mitigation we've done. This is the direction we are taking.' 

Cut hesitancy. We avoid using 'hedging bet' words like 'probably', 'perhaps', 'under the circumstances'. Act with boldness and clarity!

Thinking Backwards

Been reading Haastrecht and Scheepbouwer's book on the Art of Problem Solving in Business. Its a quick read, but that should not be taken as it being 'thin' on substance. I've been a proponent of future backwards rather than past forwards for a long while and these guys have got it right. 

I enjoyed their focus on making the abductive jump of not wasting time on analyzing the problem as the first step (that would be past backwards) but working on a goal that inspires. Instead of spending weeks on diagnosing the problem. they suggest defining the improvement objectives right off the bat and only then focusing on the solutions that look most promising. 

"Decisions are nothing. Intervention is everything." Thus spake the Dutchmen wisely. They focus on setting up the structure for taking action and moving the ball forward.


So should you buy the book? Yes. I'd give it a 7 on 10 and hope that the Eurozone use it to get out of the fine mess they are in.