Close your eyes and imagine this situation.
You’re in a meeting and you have an idea, you think it’s a great idea, so you throw it out there. It gets a brief discussion, people nod and make supportive comments. No one questions the wisdom your idea and ‘hey presto’, it is agreed. The idea that you thought up has sailed through with 100% agreement………or has it.
Did everyone agree because the idea was amazing, or, did no on question it because you are the boss and no-one wanted to challenge you?
There are occasions where that sort of blind faith may be a strength of a team, in the armed forces for example, where following orders is the principle of how armies function. Well the Boardroom is not a warzone.
In business, having the most stripes in the room should not guarantee your views go unchallenged.
Every team needs visionaries who want to make new things happen. This creative energy and drive is key to innovation and change. They have a wealth of fresh ideas and are wildly optimistic but can tend to rush to action
Ever team also need a dissenter who questions the merit of new decisions, instead of just going along for the ride, they raise questions as to the sense of what might follow.
They should not be seen as the handbrake on great ideas but the conscience that makes the group stop and think. They spark debate and ensure that the ideas are stress tested and if they are accepted, they are accepted after a proper debate.
One of the most powerful examples of this is Israeli Military Intelligence (Aman) which has a unit in every department designed to play Devil’s Advocate to any analysis of military intelligence. These units were introduced in 1973 following the Yom Kippur war when despite seeming undeniable evidence, the Aman made ill-informed assumptions leading them to ignore the threat of a Syrian/Egyptian invasion.
In Max Brooks book, World War Z, Israel are forecast to survive the Zombie Apocalypse because of what the Author calls the ‘tenth man’ rule. It states that if ten people are in a room and the first nine people agree, the tenth must disagree. They must find the most credible argument against the groups consensus and use it to challenge them.
So outside of a Zombie attack, what does this mean for you and your team. It means that you need to ensure that any group decisions are challenged, and people look to find weaknesses in the plan. No plan is prefect and by finding weaknesses and stress testing them, you have a far higher likelihood of creating plans, strategies and initiatives that are truly robust and will be successful in the long term.
You can try this outside of work. If you’re making a lifestyle change, thinking about moving to a new house, or just planning a family holiday, give it a go.
If you are doing the latter don’t walk into your partners bedroom wearing a Zombie mask shouting “I’m the tenth man”….they may not find the funny side of it.
by Richard Wright
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