[Scene shows three animated characters representing three team members sitting at a table. They identify one answer or solution. Their supervisor appears on the screen. A team member presents the solution, and the supervisor rejects it. The word “Nope” appears on the screen. The team members are shown at the table again arguing about three options. The team member presenting option #1 argues the most strongly as the clock on the wall indicates the passage of time. Finally, the other team members are shown giving up and going to sleep.]

Roger McCarty: The biggest mistake teams make is to identify only one answer or recommendation and present the first idea developed. The second biggest mistake is to identify several potential recommendations and then fight amongst yourselves about which one is best until someone prevails by wearing down everyone else on the team to convince them that they are right.

Of course, this is almost always done without any real evidence beyond the team member’s opinion about which recommendation is best. Sadly, the company only sees the one recommendation and misses all the insight and learning from the other team members’ ideas.

[Text of main discussion points appears on the screen.]

To move from bad outcomes to better outcomes, you must develop alternative options and then forecast the value of implementing each of the ideas. To get to the best ideas, you must look for hybrid solutions that are a blend of multiple ideas.

[A scene of rolling hills with trees, plants, and animals appears, along with blue sky and clouds.] 

Let’s look at an example of drilling for oil. When an oil production company considers a field, they do the research to determine where the oil is likely hiding. 

[Three circled question marks are stamped on the scene in different locations. The likelihood of each location containing oil is shown in percentages.]

They study all of the formations and find the formations that have the highest likelihood of having large deposits of oil.

[Construction trucks and oil rig towers appear on screen as test wells are drilled. The scene scrolls down to show the wells going deep into the earth. Radar waves are shown penetrating the earth to determine the size of the oil fields. Hybrid wells are shown extending at an angle from the main wells.]

But then they don’t simply start drilling multiple holes in the best locations. They take all of the possible formation sites and make test well holes. This is to see if oil is in any of the selected locations. Then they begin to test to see the size of the field in each location.

Once they have some impression of the overall size and dimension of the various fields, they look for hybrid production sites that will allow them to maximize the total oil accessible from the planned investments.

[The first well drilled is highlighted in the oil field scene, followed by the other wells.]

This process of finding one answer, and then other multiple answers before you start testing the relative value of each of the ideas assumes the first answer is never the best. Then, after they test each of the sites, they never assume that one of the sites is the best answer. They look for a hybrid solution that will allow them to leverage their resources to take advantage of multiple sources of value.

[The animated scene of three team members in a meeting at a table returns to the screen. One team member transforms into a large badger wearing glasses. An X appears across the badger. The text The Willing Suspension of Disbelief appears on the screen.]

As a team, never let one of your team members try to badger you to accept their answer as the best. Listen to all ideas, and then try to open your mind up to consider even more ideas. We sometimes call this phase the willing suspension of disbelief.

[A male team member with arms folded appears on the screen next to a picture of a brain, which represents an idea. A crank, flag, and propeller are then added to the idea/brain, along with a text banner which says Modify Your Ideas. The man gestures positively toward the modified idea and smiles. The text Test 3-5 ideas appears on the screen. The brain/idea icon switches direction on the screen representing hybrid options.]

Never assume an idea will not work. Try to figure out how you could modify the idea to make it possible. It will be necessary for you to narrow the ideas you test to 3-5 to find out how much value each idea would create if implemented. Then look for hybrid options that utilize some of the elements of several ideas to find the value-maximizing recommendation.

[The male team member is shown in a scene with three customers or clients presenting his recommendation, as represented by the brain/idea picture with the propeller, crank, and flag. The text your recommendation, options you did not select, assumptions you made, and value of each idea appears on the screen along with a different version of the brain/idea picture representing options not selected. An exclamation point appears in a speech bubble next to each customer’s head. The text NEVER wait until the final presentation before you show your recommendation appears on screen, along with an illustration of a battery with a rabbit’s head, representing a surprise idea. Text then appears on screen restating the final conclusions.]

Then, when you present your recommendation, also show the options you did not select and explain the assumptions you made and the value projected by each of the ideas. This is valuable because people at the company may know some things you do not know that might cause them to see more value in some of your ideas not selected than you were aware of.

This is also the reason why you should never wait until the final presentation before you show your recommendation. There should never be a surprise at the final presentation. Always share your conclusions and recommendations early enough that you can take feedback from the company sponsor and modify your recommendations with the added information.