Plunging In Headfirst Can Be Dangerous To More Than Just Your Health

// path career choice diverse woman Vector of a business woman walking on a red arrow on a city scape background In August of 2020, I wrote my very first blog post about life as an in-house counsel. In that article (In-House Counsel — More Than Just a Legal Advisor), I wrote about the importance of being more than just a legal advisor. I wrote that, while a good general counsel was responsible “for spotting issues, for providing objective legal advice, for drafting and reviewing agreements, and for providing possible solutions to issues important to the organization,” I also noted that a great general counsel was so much more. A great general counsel was also responsible for “serv[ing] as a strategic business partner committed to the advancement of the organization’s business.”

To serve as an effective strategic business partner, a general counsel must work with internal and external business partners to ensure that the organization uses effective problem-solving strategies to achieve the organization’s vision mission, objectives, and goals. While this may seem self-evident, I assure you it is not.

When assisting your internal and external business partners in identifying and addressing a specific problem, be sure to use a deliberate — not the reflexive — mindset. Resist the urge to plunge in and act too quickly. Instead, adopt a structured problem-solving strategy and leap forward with a plan.

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How can you tell if you are operating using the reflexive mindset?

You know you are acting with a reflexive mindset when you accept the problem as stated and fail to question what you have been told. When you assume that what you have been told is correct and complete, it is a recipe for disaster. While it is fine to trust the people with whom you work, but you also must verify the information you receive. You will only be able to give good advice if you have confirmed that you have correctly identified the problem that needs to be solved.
You know you are acting with a reflexive mindset when you immediately assume you have the best solution and you move quickly to undertake the tasks required to solve the problem. When you work for an organization long enough, it is easy to assume that you have seen it all. Resist that mindset at all cost. All problems are not created equal. The facts that form the basis of the problem will deviate slightly from problem to problem. When the facts deviate so should your solution.
You know you are acting with a reflexive mindset when you do not bring other internal or external business to the table and ask for input. Complex problems can rarely be successfully solved by one person or one department alone. It is so important to consult other internal and external partners who will be impacted by the results.
You know you are acting with a reflexive mindset when you “shoot from the hip.” When you “shoot from the hip” and provide on the spot advice, you are essentially acknowledging that the problem has been correctly framed and the solution to that problem is a good one. You may actually be making the problem worse and not better.

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If this sounds anything like how you have solved problems, you may be acting as a result of “plunging-in bias.” An Academy of Management Learning & Education article written by Gaurab Bhardwaj, Alia Crocker, Jonathan Sims, and Richard D. Wang, all of Babson College, called, “Alleviating the Plunging-In Bias, Elevating Strategic Problem Solving” explains a little-known, but widespread, bias that can affect all aspects of life: plunging-in bias. They define the bias as “not understanding the problem and not thinking about how best to solve it before starting to solve it … a common but little recognized cognitive bias.”

According to Bhardwaj, “Good people can make bad decisions because they don’t follow the right approach. All of us, given our proclivity for action and our desire to do good things, can fall into the plunging-in bias,” Bhardwaj said. “It’s a trap we fall into every day. In our work lives, in our personal lives.”

Plunging In Headfirst Can Be Dangerous To More Than Just Your Health

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