Stuck on a Problem? Try Switching Up Your Approach
Feb 6, 2024
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Cheryl Strauss Einhorn, Founder and CEO of Decisive, shares her expertise in decision-making and problem-solving. She emphasizes the importance of recognizing personal problem-solving styles and adapting strategies to tackle new challenges. Listeners learn about five distinct archetypes—adventurers, detectives, listeners, thinkers, and visionaries—that influence decision-making. Einhorn discusses cognitive biases and the significance of decision ownership, stressing that collaborative efforts and diverse perspectives can lead to better outcomes in professional environments.
Understanding your personal problem-solving style is the first step to breaking through challenges and selecting the best approach.
Different decision-making styles such as adventurers, detectives, listeners, thinkers, and visionaries impact how individuals approach situations, and becoming aware of cognitive biases associated with these styles is crucial for effective decision-making.
Deep dives
Different decision-making styles and their comfort zones
People tend to fall back on certain patterns or behaviors in decision-making due to comfort and underlying values. Business leaders may struggle to change their approach due to years of success and a fear of failure. Different decision-making archetypes are adventurers, detectives, listeners, thinkers, and visionaries.
The impact of decision-making styles in different situations
Different decision-making styles can affect how someone approaches a situation. For example, adventurers trust their instincts and make quick decisions, while detectives rely on data and facts. Listeners are collaborative and seek input from others, while thinkers analyze multiple options and may struggle with timely decisions. Visionaries focus on innovative solutions but may overlook effective and ordinary approaches. Understanding one's style and adapting to the situation is crucial.
Overcoming decision-making blind spots and biases
Becoming aware of cognitive biases associated with decision-making styles is essential for overcoming blind spots. For example, adventurers may overlook important details due to optimism bias, while detectives may have a confirmation bias by favoring data that supports their hypotheses. Regularly challenging and checking biases leads to more effective decision-making. It is important to continuously work on switching styles depending on the situation and actively trying on different problem-solving profiles.
Many leaders confidently go about tackling challenges. After all, relying on their experience got them to where they are. But taking the same approach over and over again can actually hold you back. Sometimes you need to switch up your tactics to break through to the next level. Decision-making expert Cheryl Strauss Einhorn says the first step is to understand your personal problem-solving style. Then she explains a framework to assess the situation and select the best approach. Einhorn is founder and CEO of Decisive. She also wrote the book Problem Solver: Maximizing Your Strengths to Make Better Decisions and the HBR article “When Your Go-To Problem-Solving Approach Fails.”
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