Your Strategic Plan’s Ability to Overcome Human Nature
Your organization’s strategic plan is more than a roadmap to success that can be understood by everyone from the board chair to the part-time volunteer. It is your hedge against human nature, which can often send us down the wrong path when things get tough.
Humans are not logical. Spock always knew; his head tilt gave it away every time. We give into myriad unconscious biases that make us do stupid things.
We know eating bad food hurts our health. We do it anyway.
We know that one-upping the boss at a meeting won’t help our career. We do it anyway.
We make decisions in haste; they are often wrong.
We decide we don’t like or trust someone for no good reason.
We promote people we shouldn’t.
Biologists talk about an idea called “evolutionary mismatch.” Mismatch is the idea that humans are adapted for how things were, not how they are. So, every day, we come into meeting rooms equipped with brains optimized to survive in small groups on the African Savannah.
And there is growing evidence that evolution crafted our perception system to hide reality from us so we would only have to focus on things that would help us survive. In other words, it shielded us from dealing with the deluge of information that would distract us from surviving and reproducing.
Humans are adapted for how things were, not how they are.
That means that the heuristics (mental shortcuts that help us make decisions fast with little information) and biases (predispositions) inherent in us were crafted for situations we no longer face, like lions chasing us. Or people whose language we can’t understand. Or cultures that dictated that the strongest person got the best food, hut, and mate.
Let’s explore one example of such a bias: reactance. “Reactance” is when you positively, absolutely do not want to do something because someone told you that you should do it. Whether or not their advice makes sense doesn’t matter. Your reactance (Hell no!) is based on having your personal autonomy threatened. In the way, way back, threatening your personal autonomy might mean taking your food, your hut, or your mate. That’s what is behind (Hell no!) your pushback when someone tells you that you should do your project differently, change your slide deck, or massage your budget. It’s not your lizard brain that is responding. It is a hungry, afraid, cold, threatened person who really wants that meal.
Can you control your biases and heuristics? Does knowing about biases like reactance help? No. You can’t. The pernicious thing about unconscious biases is just that — they are totally unconscious. Which means they are entirely inaccessible to us, operating outside of our influence.
So how do we not make stupid decisions when these processes control what we say and do? (Yes, they do control what you say and do.)
You cannot control your biases. You can only accommodate them.
You can’t control your biases, making it less likely that you will become angry, afraid, trusting, or even fall in love. But you can accommodate them. My daughter Anna had an IEP (individual educational plan) in school. She is intellectually handicapped and needed accommodations in school. This fully articulated plan kept her teachers, aides, and parents from going off the rails. We write accommodations for ourselves all the time. We’re at least smart enough to do that. Other examples?
The Scientific Method – The Killer of Confirmation Bias. The whole point of the scientific method is to remove our tendency to want to prove what we believe. Your data will set you free.
Affirmative Action – The Killer of In-Group/Out-Group Bias. Yes, we still need it because we are still us. Our unconscious preference for those who look like us is strong.
Your Strategic Plan – The Killer of “Need to Act Fast” and “Too Much Information.” Biases that include:
Confirmation Bias – I want to believe what I believe, and I’ll work to believe it by gum!
Fundamental Attribution Error – That project failed because we started it on a Wednesday.
Recency Illusion – I remember it; therefore, it is true.
Placebo Effect – I think this is what made it all better. Yep, that is it.
IKEA Effect – It’s important because I created it.
Dunning-Krueger Effect – I’ve read three articles… I got this.
These are among hundreds of unconscious processes that profoundly impact our everyday decision-making. They lead us to many terrible decisions. They are an operating system created when we were chased by lions, often malnourished, and living in small groups. The hunter-gatherer operating system in modern life does not equip us to make wise choices.
What’s your accommodation? What you need is an IEP for organizational success. So, create your strategic plan in the calm, and lean on it in the tempest when your lion-fleeing brain is engaged.
