Here’s this week’s 200 word idea thanks to Decisive by Chip and Dean Heath
Inmet Mining Corp. was losing money fast on a mine. So, the team met in Wisconsin to decide if they ought to close the mine. However, the mine employed a 1000 people, had recently been acquired and had millions invested in it. The discussions reached an impasse as the head of the mine refused to accept closure as an option.
So, a team member issued the group a challenge – list out all options available and ask – “What would have to be true for this option to work?”
The head of the mine now laid out a bunch of conditions (e.g. we would have to get it to 90% capacity in 3 weeks and we would have to break even in 2 months) to keep the mine open. These were “tripwires.” If they tripped, they would have to close the mine. The best outcome of this move was that everyone collaborated to try and make sure the tripwires didn’t trip.
But, they did trip. By the next board meeting, the resistant head of the mine endorsed the close himself. One question and a tripwire had moved the group from adversaries to collaborators.
Source and thanks to: LeadershipTraq.com
“”What would have to be true for that option to work?” sets up tripwires. A tripwire specifies the circumstances during which you would reconsider a decision. Most people overestimate the chances of making it past an obstacle.” | Chip and Dan Heath in Decisive
A Learning a Day 