Q & A Strategy
This is part two of the post below on groundhog thinking.
When military historian, Karl Maschler, asked a set of simplified questions about the Vietnam War, he was surprised to find that his third grade audience simply responded with more questions, and no matter how many times he answered, more questions came back at him.
Such inquisitiveness is, of course, natural in children, but as Maschler continued to answer the questions he realized that the solution was becoming clearer, to the extent that one little girl eventually provided the ultimate answer when she said, ‘I don’t understand why they’re fighting.’
To continue the third grade analogy, Maschler came to the conclusion that most policy makers and strategists, both in government and business, are guilty of “show and tell thinking". They are convinced that they know everything there is to know about a given subject and that no one else is better placed to make decisions.
What’s needed, Maschler argued, is a Question and Answer Strategy, one in which each answer, as it becomes available, is immediately met with another question. Taken to its logical conclusion, this process will get to the heart of whatever problem is being tackled and avoid the risk of falling into the trap of groundhog thinking.
It may sound deceptively simple but the two alternate responses to 9/11 that Maschler obtained from different groups of students is instructive. The first group were asked simply to develop a response to 9/11. Even with the benefit of hindsight, this group decided on an immediate military response in Afghanistan, it remained split on Iraq, but several members of the group suggested military strikes and economic sanctions throughout the Islamic world.
The second group were asked to employ the Q & A Strategy, the initial result of which went as follows –
Q: What happened?
A: Terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center.
Q: Why?
A: They hate America.
Q: Why?
(A twenty minute discussion ensued)
A: Because they think we’re anti-Islamic.
Q: Why?
(Another ten minute discussion in which it was agreed that Israel/Palestine had not been a factor in the WTC attacks)
A: Because our troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia and because of our foreign policy against Muslim countries.
(A heated debate followed about US foreign policy and whether it was being misinterpreted in the Islamic world.)
Q: Even if they’re wrong, how can we change that perception?
The intriguing thing about Q & A Strategy is that is eschews knee-jerk responses and actually draws the strategists directly towards the underlying causes. It’s hardly surprising then, that Q & A Strategy is gaining popularity in business. Political commentators, on the other hand, have argued that it is impossible for politicians to engage in such a strategy without also reflecting the wishes of the people.
(coming next - singularity)
