High-stakes strategies, "spirited" debate, and the IKEA Effect

I once had a boss that both inspired and frustrated me.?

He had great vision and deftly steered our organization’s transformation.

But he seemed inconsistent when it came to providing direction.?

At times he’d give detailed guidance about how to address what seemed to me to be a minor issue.

But other times, he’d sit quietly by, while our leadership team held endless debates.????

One day, after he told me in detail how I could fix an excel spreadsheet issue, I confronted his inconsistency:?

“ Why are you giving me the answer for such a small problem?? Yet you let our leadership team flounder for HOURS in fruitless debates over much bigger issues. You've thought a lot about this already. Why don’t you just?tell us your answer?”

He sat back and smiled.?

“This is called “spirited debate.”?This leadership team needs to understand the assumptions we’re making,? the trade-offs we have to deal with, and the risks we’re taking. You need to align together around where we’re going — or this turnaround will fail.”

I never saw “spirited debate” the same way again.

How invested are YOUR?people in your high-stakes strategy??

In my work with organizations who are shifting their strategy,?and placing big bets, I often see employees asking for “the answer from the top.”

But when given an answer, second-guessing continues, especially if they have to grapple with the consequences of the hard choices of execution. Trade-offs are not comfortable.

However, when leaders openly share how they see the landscape, there is less skepticism.

When employees, partners, and customers are able to provide input to shape an organization's new direction, they tend to believe in it more. They seem to feel more ownership for the answer.

Why is that?

Enter the IKEA Effect.

In? 2011, a? study by a team of professors from Duke, Harvard, and Yale, reported a cognitive bias they called the?"IKEA effect." It results in people placing a disproportionately high value on products they helped to create.

The study found that people were willing to pay 63% more for furniture they had assembled themselves than for the pre-assembled equivalent.? The study resulted in an industry shift toward getting?customers involved earlier in product design and marketing and testing.?

How does the IKEA effect?apply to leading your new strategy??

One common mistake leaders make when driving a new strategy is to underestimate what is required for people to take that new direction with them.? If people aren't quick to jump on board, some leaders see them as "uncooperative," "pushing back" or "naysayers". Or they dismiss those who question with, "They aren't going to be right for our team."

But whether you like it or not, we humans are wired to protect ourselves. We need to understand and believe a new direction makes sense. We need to trust the outcome will be good for us, or we will fight, freeze, or jump out of the boat. Even those who seem enthusiastic about your new idea may have doubts -- they just may not be voicing them.

Providing open communication about the realities of the market and financial situation, resource constraints and trade-offs to be made, opportunities you'd like to be ready for but aren't today--- all provide CONTEXT for better problem-solving.

Inviting people to help you shape answers to these challenges enables them to provide new perspectives, wrestle with the tradeoffs, and understand the consequences. It will also build TRUST.

Like the research participants who saw the furniture they assembled as more valuable, people will see more value in your new strategy if you make them part of "building” it.

As you do, be quick to listen and slow to weigh in too early with your answers. These voices have perspectives that can make the strategy stronger.

It will no longer be “your strategy ” but "ours," an opportunity to build together. And take ACTION -- together.

Enjoy the spirited debate.?

(If you'd like to explore how to get results faster for your own new strategy, let's talk. Your mission is too important to get derailed. Susan Schramm, Founder and Principal, Go to Market Impact LLC???[email protected])