How do you make a decision? Reach a conclusion? Take action?
People usually:
- Look at the available data
- Select information to focus on
- Make assumptions based on the data and their past experiences
- Draw conclusions
- Take action
As a coach, working with clients, we often examine this process to explore other possibilities.
We challenge every part of the process.
Join me. Is there an action or decision you would like to re-evaluate?
Let’s start with the facts.
Are you looking at all the facts? Only a subset of the data? Hearsay – what your colleague/neighbor told you? Where did you get your information?
Check if you really have all the facts. Sometimes you do not have access to all the facts, then it is important to acknowledge that the decisions are based on partial information.
Now, what part of this information, the data, have you selected to focus on?
The negative? The positive? Just a small part of it? People selectively choose what to pay attention to while ignoring other perceivable information. The famous Gorilla Experiment, where subjects were asked to watch a short video of two groups of people (wearing black and white T-shirts) passing a basketball around, demonstrates this point well. The subjects were told to count the passes made by one of the teams. In the video a person walks through the scene wearing a full gorilla suit. After watching the video, the subjects are asked whether they noticed anything out of the ordinary taking place. In most groups, 50% of the subjects did not report seeing the gorilla. When people concentrate, and look for one thing, they often do not see other things.
Have you ever talked about a shared past experience and noticed that you and others who were there remember different details from it?
Look back at the facts. Could someone see them differently? What else can you consider?
On the information you collected you make assumptions.
These assumptions are based on past experiences and previous knowledge. People may wrongly assume that a woman of a certain age is a mother; that the guy in the room is the manager; that you must have certain experience to qualify for a certain role; that others have verified the information they are presenting, etc. Ask yourself, have you verified your assumptions? Is this the only way to look at and interpret the data?
What conclusions are you drawing?
Your conclusions lead to actions. Imagine other people you know. What conclusions would they reach? Try and think of other possibilities.
Now that you have reassessed the data you are looking at, and the assumptions you’ve made, are there other conclusions you could reach? Other actions you could take? What plans could you make?