Hippos can be as dangerous at work as in the wild!
We all hear how dangerous Hippos are in the wild. They can run at nearly kmph, they can bite with a force of 1800 psi, and their teeth can grow to over 0.5m!
All of this is true, but the HPPO I am talking about occurs in a meeting and can be just and dangerous.
We have all been there, your boss expresses his view and suddenly everyone agrees. They all love the boss’s idea, and no-one challenges it. This is HPPO – Highest Paid Person’s Opinion. It is the situation where everyone ‘sucks up’ to the boss as they know his idea will win.
A good team has neurodiversity, it is made up of people from different backgrounds, with different views and different strengths. If HPPO starts to set in, the benefits of a neurodiverse team are lost.
The way to over come the HPPO effect is by getting the boss to put forward his idea last. Allow the rest of the team to express their views before the senior voice is heard. This way three things can happen.
· The Bosses idea is stress tested by the team in an open forum and it is agreed to.
· The idea is discussed, amended, improved upon, and moves forward as a more robust idea.
· The idea is discussed, and the team realise that it is not the best idea. A new Idea is developed and taken forward.
Another approach is to use the 10th man principle. This is where in a group of 10 people, if the first nine people agree on a strategy, the last man must disagree with the idea even if he supported it. This forces a debate and ensures that the HPPO effect does not blur the groups judgement.
It is important that we have neurodiverse teams, but it is also important that we allow the benefits of neurodiverse thinking to thrive.
by Richard Wright
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