How often have you been told that you need to have a “bias for action.”

If so, it's easy to see how this mindset makes sense.  If we see a problem, we should attack it immediately, right?  Bad news never gets better with waiting. 

However, this Bias for Action can sometimes be taken too far, and turns into:

“Doing something, even if it’s the wrong thing, is better than nothing.”

Have you ever seen this in your organization?  We know it doesn’t work, but sometimes we do it anyway.  Why?  We all know we need to think critically and "Go slow to go fast." But we're not hardwired for that.

There’s actually fascinating research showing how much people dislike sitting with their own thoughts—so much that in one study, participants chose to give themselves electric shocks rather than just think for a few minutes.

Here’s the study if you’re curious: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1250830)

Thinking just doesn’t feel productive.  It’s not as tangible as action.  So we tend to skip the uncomfortable thinking part and jump straight into action.

For our companies and organizations, this often means:

·       Solving symptoms instead of root causes

·       Adding another variable or change to an already confusing challenge

·       Creating rework and wasted effort

To avoid the hidden dangers of the Bias for Action, we recommend following these basic steps:

1.     Define the problem clearly

2.     Identify root causes (not just assumptions)

3.     Design small tests to validate solutions

This is the kind of thinking that leads to progress and performance. And, if your team is busy with action but not always achieving the results you’d expect, contact us. We'd love to connect and share strategies for success.