Decisionmaking is never easy! All managers know that!
But the crisis in the Financial Industry is starting to bite big time. I just read an article http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jFilemDz23jniJrwYeBy-NA-8fXA that speaks about some directors leaving a German Bank and then the words: "On Monday, the German lender unveiled the results of an audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers which said the bank had suffered from "weaknesses in its risk management."
Ah-hah! The penny drops again!Weaknesses in Risk Management!
But who took the decisions? One person or a Commitee?
Anthony Robbins, the peak performance consultant says it is hard to look at your life today and realize that it is the result of decisions you took 10 years ago. So? What will the two employees who are leaving say?
But something concerns me! What are these directors and managers going to write on their resumes? Do recruiters ever take into consideration that an applicant with a not so good record, were part of a Commitee?
In problemsolving we know that we have to dig deeper. So, let us do that. When the individual participated in decisionmaking, did he or she agree with decisions taken, or did they abstain and was it minuted? Did they even know proper meeting procedures?(Company Secretaries and Compliance Officers do? So do judges and legal experts)
Perhaps managers need to reconsider their participation at meetings. Perhaps they need to become more vigilant. Perhaps OD experts need to ascertain the level of groupthink in their organizations.
Groupthink? This is what Wikipedia has to say about that:
Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. During Groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of consensus thinking. A variety of motives for this may exist such as a desire to avoid being seen as foolish, or a desire to avoid embarrassing or angering other members of the group.
Groupthink may cause groups to make hasty, irrational decisions, where individual doubts are set aside, for fear of upsetting the group’s balance. The term is frequently used pejoratively, with hindsight.
Again I have to chuckle – do you see the link between Corporate Governance and meeting procedures.( Want to learn some interesting thoughts about meetings – email me at deonbin at icon.co.za – you may be surprised)
In my past I acted as a Group Secretary to an organization, and I have worked with groups in training and facilitation for more than 25 years. I can fully endorse the definition.
BUT, I feel sorry for individuals. How do you persuade a recruiter? Do you go to court and ask for minutes to be revealed?
How do you protect your own reputation? I would love to hear your thoughts on this?
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