In his 2005 book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell describes the rapid cognition process humans sometimes use to reach conclusions. It’s how firefighters react when tackling a burning building or art critics respond when first viewing a could-be-forged sculpture.
Not gut instinct or intuition, Gladwell insists rapid cognition is every bit as logical and systematic as “long-form” analytic thinking. It’s just that process on high-speed steroids.
Today’s dizzy-paced digital world puts a premium on fast answers. I, for one, often enjoy reaching an accelerated opinion 🙂
Except, however, when speed results in overlooking essential issues or damaging needed consensus. Moving too quickly can prove anathema to reaching thoughtful solutions and forging real collaborations. By short-circuiting, we may over simplify and create more problems than we solve. By fast-tracking, we may diminish innovation by too quickly dismissing the diverse voices and opinions we really need to hear.
Our team collides with impatient decision-making frequently — especially when working with a larger group around a visioning or strategic planning process. Common refrains include, “Can’t we fly past this one? “We really know this already,” or the quintessential, “Everyone agrees… ”
Sometimes groups need to live in ambiguity until better answers appear or all members naturally reach a similar opinion. We find those tenets true and fully embedded in all successful ways of facilitating conversations that count, proven repeatedly by scholars at MIT, Case Western and in hundreds of real life case studies.
We may not like “gray” (unless it comes in fifty shades) but the world is not nor will ever be monochrome.
Let’s think about it a while.
