'Yes' or 'No' - which way to go?

With all the background noise about the Voice you have to feel sorry for Librans (notoriously bad decision-makers as they see equal value in both sides of the argument). I’m a Libran. What has really stuck out for me in the ‘debate’ so far are three things:

1)????An absolute belief by the ‘rusted-on’ adherents of 'Yes' and 'No' that their truth is THE truth;

2)????A singular lack of willingness to hear the argument of the other side and acknowledge there may be some merit in an opposing position; and

3)????This particularly applies to LinkedIn - a dearth of commentary about the use of decision tools to help you formulate your view independent of the biases of the 'Yes' and 'No' echo chamber. ?

It strikes me that the world of management has learnings and models that can bring some objectivity to bear. To make a decision based on a visceral response is all too tempting. Humans are an emotional species after all. Australians, in particular, don’t like being told what to do. That's where the value of a model comes into its own.

I acknowledge there are those with lived experience – our First Nations people -who are entitled because of this to vote with the heart and gut. We call this ‘thin slice thinking’ in neuroscience/management speak. Malcolm Gladwell covers this elegantly in Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.

But for the rest of us, isn’t it our responsibility to bring a bit more cerebrum into the equation? First up, at times of complexity, managers and leaders are asked to bring clarity and conciseness to concentrate the mind. It’s too easy otherwise to miss the wood for the trees. In all my reading up on the Voice, it is Joe Aston of the Rear Window column in the Australian Financial Review who has summed it up most succinctly. “The Voice is the pathway, preferred by First Nations leaders, to repairing entrenched Aboriginal disadvantage.” There you go it wasn’t that hard after all!

So having answered Simon Sinek’s Why Question then the hard work begins as to whether the proposition (a Voice to Parliament) will achieve its goal. This is standard management fayre. To save time scouring through the abundance of decision-making models and without burdening you with decision theory I want to offer one approach that is relatively simple and is likely to yield good results. I’m favouring Edward de Bono for this task. His ‘Six Thinking Hats’ is perfectly suited to reaching a decision by looking at an issues from all sides. In short de Bono suggests collecting insights by looking at an issue in a series of interconnected silos (hats). The graphic below tells you all you need to know other than you do all your thinking with respect to the coloured hat all at the same time - then move to the next hat.

I guarantee this process will get anyone where they need to be because the model works with and against bias.

There are companies e.g. Qantas who are unashamedly letting their viewpoint be known. You do wonder however how they polled their company to reach this decision, or was it just their Board or CEO whose opinion then undemocratically adorns three of their aircraft? Perhaps the best contribution managers and leaders can make is not so much ‘hanging their colours to the mast’, but pointing to and encouraging the use of tried and tested decision-making tools. Sound easy? I’m not so sure? Sound old school??You bet! A hangover from days when the people you disagreed with were most often your friends and colleagues and not faceless ‘foes’ in a different echo chamber on social media. ?I’m dusting off my Plato and Aristotle as I speak.?Good luck all in reaching your decision!