Discomfort Leads to Better Decisions

A new study indicates that the discomfort of working with an outsider helps groups make better decisions.

According to ScienceDaily.com, “Researchers noticed this effect after conducting a traditional group problem-solving experiment. The twist was that a newcomer was added to each group about five minutes into their deliberations. And when the newcomer was a social outsider, teams were more likely to solve the problem successfully.”

The research also indicated that the groups:

• didn’t take longer to solve the problem.
• used more critical thinking on relied less on assumptions.
• didn’t realize how well they were working together; they took their discomfort as a sign of poor performance.
• were shaken up merely by the presence of a newcomer who didn’t share a common identity, not by tougher questions, new information, or a contradictory point of view.

This indicates that a consultant who maintains their perceived independence from an organization can help the members of the organization make better decisions. This benefit comes in addition to the popularly agreed upon benefits of outside consultants:

• Infusion of new ideas and perspectives
• Specific expertise

Backing up the value of the infusion of new ideas is another study reported on in ScienceDaily.com that indicates that groups that are comfortable with each other may be very communicative, but they are not sharing information that is new to the group. This study showed that groups that shared new information were able to perform their tasks better.

Although Katie Liljenquist, one of the co-authors of the first study, acknowledges these other cases for diversity in the workplace, she contends that “reaping the benefits of diverse workgroups doesn’t necessarily require that newcomers bring unique perspectives or expertise to the table. Simply having people around us who differ on some dimension ­- whether it is functional background, education, race or even a different fraternity – drives a very different decision-making process at a group level because of the social and emotional conflict we experience in their presence.”

Having trouble getting to the bottom of things? Bring a consultant to the table.