The Downside of Deliberating

Ponder this: Deliberating has its downside. Not only does thinking it over waste time, decisions are no more accurate than if decision-makers had simply tapped their intuition. Behavioral researchers at the Kellogg School of Management concluded that too much analysis “distracts consumers from the most relevant information at hand," whether we're discerning good art from bad, rating apartments or choosing a favorite jelly bean flavor.

But what does candy have to do with corporations? Intuition plays out in our organizations every day. Business rewards people who think on their feet, hone in on the most salient information, and act on it. Does that mean that the most successful CCOs throw their frontal lobes overboard and let gut feel take the wheel? No. Most of the CCO's decisions require keen analysis of a situation and experienced-base judgment. But they've learned to do it fast; there's no time for analysis paralysis. So what does the requirement for decisive action demand of the rest of CCO's team? Is there a way to fast-track mid-level staffers toward the intuitive judgment that the CCO has learned over a decade plus? Two ideas from a couple CCOs:

1. Expose them to the Page Principles early. No better foundation for good judgment while gaining trial-by-fire experience.
   
2. Give their next big decision the Desk Drawer Test. Staffers put their best intuitive answer on paper and in the top drawer. They then analyze the situation, lay out every conceivable approach. When they're satisfied with their answer, they open the desk drawer, pull out the intuitive response, compare the two, and repeat as often as necessary to begin trusting their intuition (with copy of the Page Principles close at hand).