Who is the Devil’s Advocate on your team?

A common practice at the President of United States cabinet meetings when deciding on key issues is to assign one or two individuals on both sides of an issue. For example on the issue of deploying additional troops to Afghanistan, Secretary Gates was in support and Vice President Biden was asked to provide counter arguments. The two teams had to put ample thoughts and support into each side of the argument to be presented to the President. In the meantime, the President excuses himself until decision time, so he doesn’t get pulled into one or the other side.

Do you follow the same practice at your company?

What type of diversity really help organizations?

Interestingly enough, many organizations now have diversity programs and many report numbers to showcase their success. However, most of the diversity programs deal with gender, race, skin color, and sometimes sexual preferences. That could be helpful as long as folks bring about differences in core culture, value and opinions. It is natural for anyone to hire people that are similar to their own way of life. We will travel the world to find talent, and ultimately end up hiring people with similar values and culture. Diversity program should include broader set of guidelines in employee selection and we are starting to see that in some organizations. I would welcome discussions around this topic as I believe diversity of thought is more critical to organizations success than other measures.

Avoiding confrontation and conflict

We all have noticed that people in general do not like to engage in confrontational discussion, especially at work. The fear of repercussions of one’s action is enough to avoid any conflict, but on many occasions the inaction may cause more harm to the organization. How do we encourage employees to have open and frank dialogue, yet avoid allowing compulsive complainers more latitude?

A profound shift in how business is conducted moving forward

Many believe what is happening now is the result of normal market fluctuation and that the markets will come back to the normal levels in a few months. Everyone believed this is a deep trough, and that it will take some time for us to bounce back to normal. However, there is a deeper issue at play here. I believe this is a fundamental shift in how business is going to be conducted moving forward. We are starting to see the impact of flatter and more border-less global economy. Obviously, this means that we have to share the wealth with much broader set of players than the golden triangle, but it is more than that. It also means that we have to think very differently on how we employ people, what processes we use, what incentives we offer and ultimately what are the cost of goods and services that we provide. What does that have to do with Applied Vision? It is a strategy that every company has to have response to in order to survive. What is your strategy?

Can you tell when Groupthink is happening at work?

We all know that Groupthink could be a major inhibitor to progress and could even work to the determent of the organization. However, for many reasons such as wanting acceptance, to perceived promotion opportunities (agree with the boss), to the simple fact that like minds attract each other Groupthink happens. How can you watch out for that and what are some of ways you have prevented that challenge and have been successful?

Decision making; Urgency vs Accuracy

If you ask 100 leaders what they would do differently, many would say that they wished they would make decisions on matters more quickly. However, when it comes time to making decisions, we all want as much data as possible to make the right decision. I would welcome discussions around this topic and get your input.

Even a great vision doesn't necessarily equal success

Over the years I have witnessed organizations with the best products yet little success. I have also come to realize that success had more to do with simplicity than complexity and that the clarity of vision was critical within the organizations. I would be interested in hearing from my colleagues on this particular topic and get your opinion.