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Banishing the “What Ifs”

“Yes, but what if…?”

How many times have you heard that? You are in a decision-making group and a few people keep coming up with the what ifs. And they can keep coming up with new ones forever. The group, or its leader, needs to recognize that some important what ifs are necessary for alternative development. But to deal with every little “what if” is a barrier to consensus and decision making.

All too often, group members will come up with reduced. It’s time to make the decision. completely irrelevant “what ifs”—like, “What if Johnny doesn’t like the solution?” Unless Johnny is the president of the company, his concerns are probably not relevant to the decision. So don’t let these keep coming up. They’ll keep you from getting to the decision.

Create a mechanism to identify each important alternative—each important “what if” and then banish the rest from the group discussion. Convince the group that those alternative situations have all been addressed and others are simply not relevant.