Seeing Both Sides

One valuable skill for board directors in any organization is the ability to consider an issue from multiple perspectives.

Being able to see both sides of any issue allows us to thoroughly evaluate risks and benefits, balance stakeholder interests, anticipate challenges and objections, and make informed decisions.

For some, seeing both sides comes easily and naturally. For others, it’s a conscious effort.

Regardless of which camp you fall into, it’s a skill worth developing if you want to make a positive contribution to your board.

“When you only stand in one place to look at a problem, it of course looks one-dimensional. Solutions you propose from this singular point of view can only address this one point of view — you can’t address what you can’t see.” — John Schveibinz

So, let’s explore how we can learn to examine an issue from all sides.

Why Is It Important?

Considering an issue from all sides gives any board several advantages that contribute to the organization’s long-term success.

• Making Informed Decisions: It reduces confirmation bias, where directors look for information that confirms their existing beliefs and reject conflicting evidence.
• Anticipating the Downside: It helps identify potential problems and risks and ways to mitigate them.
• Considering Stakeholder Interests: It helps in recognizing the interests of all stakeholders, thus building trust and leading to more equitable outcomes.
• Building Resilience: It enhances the board's flexibility, agility, and ability to adapt to changing circumstances and navigate complex challenges.
• Strengthening Board Dynamics: It fosters a culture of open dialogue, an inclusive environment, better teamwork, and more effective governance.

On the other hand, when the board fails to consider an issue from different perspectives, problems can arise such as poor decisions, stakeholder discontent, legal and compliance failures, strategic misalignment, and missed opportunities.

Looking for Concrete Examples?

Consider these situations where it would be beneficial for the board to consider multiple perspectives.

• Strategic Planning: Understanding both the opportunities and threats that could impact the organization's future helps the board develop a robust, adaptive strategy that’s balanced and realistic, rather than overly optimistic or pessimistic.
• Executive Compensation: Getting executive compensation right involves balancing the need to attract and retain top talent with the interests of stakeholders such as owners, shareholders, employees, and the public. Considering these multiple perspectives helps to ensure that compensation is fair, competitive, and aligned with the organization's goals.
• Crisis Management: In a crisis situation, seeing all sides allows the board to balance immediate damage control with long-term reputation management, make decisions that address root causes, and maintain stakeholder trust.
• Mergers and Acquisitions: Understanding the benefits and risks from your own organization’s perspective — whether you’re the acquiring or target company — is a given. But what about the organization on the other side of the table? Seeing the situation from their perspective ensures that potential synergies, cultural fit, and integration challenges are considered.

What Gets in Our Way?

As directors, several factors prevent us from seeing all sides of an issue that the board might be considering. Some are obvious, such as incomplete information, limited time, distractions, or poor communication.

But there are other, less visible, barriers that get in our way. Recognizing them is the first step to improving our ability to consider multiple perspectives.

• Biases: Confirmation bias, status quo bias, and Groupthink are just a few examples of cognitive biases that can stifle dissenting opinions, hamper critical thinking, and limit the thoughtful consideration of alternative viewpoints.
• Emotions: We’ve all experienced situations where strong emotions like anger or fear cloud our judgment and contribute to poor decisions. In the boardroom, feeling frustrated, bored, anxious, or defensive can make communication difficult, heighten conflict, and narrow our perspective.
• Values: Fundamental differences in values or beliefs can make it difficult to find common ground. These difficulties can be exacerbated by different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, clashing communication styles, language barriers, and power imbalances.
• Personal Interests: We naturally interpret information through a lens built by our own experiences. Even when our personal interests don’t cause an outright conflict of interest, they can still lead to unfair preferences that make it hard for us to acknowledge other points of view.

How Can We Improve?

For some people, seeing both sides comes easily and naturally. For most people though, seeing both sides takes a conscious effort. Stressful or complex situations make it even harder.

As directors, if we work on building the skill outside the boardroom, it’ll be that much easier to call it up when we need to in a board meeting.

Here are a few steps that will help:

• Cultivate Open-Mindedness: Be aware of your cognitive biases, pre-existing beliefs, and assumptions and actively try to address them. Acknowledge that complex issues rarely have simple answers. Learn to be comfortable with ambiguity. Reconsider your position in the face of a compelling counter argument.
• Practice Active Listening: Really pay attention to what others are saying. Focus on their words, tone of voice, and body language. Train yourself to listen longer and resist the urge to start preparing your response while they’re still talking.
• Think Critically: Don't accept information at face value — consider different ways to interpret it. Look for evidence to support or refute claims. Don't assume that there is only one "right" answer. Ask "what if" questions. Consider the potential consequences of different actions.
• Seek Out Diverse Perspectives: Engage in conversations with people who hold different viewpoints. Try to understand their reasoning, even if you disagree. Expose yourself to different media sources.

“There are different perspectives on all aspects of life. You can learn other realities to improve your odds of getting things right.” — Thomas Oppong

What Can the Board Chair Do?

The chair has a critical role in ensuring the board's decision-making is thorough and balanced. Here are some strategies to consider:

• Time for Discussion: Allocate enough time in the agenda for thorough discussion and analysis.
• Open Dialogue: Create an environment where board members feel comfortable expressing dissenting opinions and engaging in healthy debate. 

• Diverse Opinions: Go around the table and get everyone's thoughts on an issue or recommendation.
• Structured Debate: Employ a systematic approach, such as discussing all the benefits before moving on to the risks.
• Clarification and Additional Information: Make sure the board has all the necessary information to make an informed decision.
• Summarization: End the discussion by asking for any points or concerns that have been missed. Then summarize the discussion before any decision is made.
• Scenario Planning: Encourage forward-looking analysis with exercises that help directors visualize how a situation might play out in various circumstances.
• Consultation: Engage external experts to provide objective insights that may not be apparent from within the organization.
• Reflection: Review past decisions and their outcomes to identify patterns that could reflect an inability to consider multiple perspectives.

What Can the Savvy Director Do?

In the boardroom, there are a few actions you can take as an individual director to encourage more balance in the decision-making process.

As always, your most effective tool is to ask open-ended questions that begin with words like how, what, why, and tell me about. Here are a few examples that we generated with the help of DirectorPrep’s AI tool, ChatDPQ™. Choose the best ones for the situation at hand.

• What are the potential risks and benefits of this decision from different stakeholder perspectives?
• What are the potential downsides or risks of this recommendation, and how can we address them?
• What alternative solutions or viewpoints could we consider to challenge our current approach?
• How might this decision affect our organization in the short-term and long-term?
• What are the possible unintended consequences of this decision?
• How can we ensure that all relevant perspectives have been considered in our decision-making?
• What additional information or analysis do we need to make a well-informed decision?
• What are we not seeing that could change our thinking?
• What are we missing that could disrupt the business?

When you’re faced with a management recommendation that considers only one side, you can request more information or ask that the issue be re-evaluated. For example:

• Can we gather more data on the alternative options and their potential impacts?
• Can management re-evaluate the recommendation with a focus on considering both positive and negative aspects?

When you feel that the board isn’t really seeing all sides, you can encourage scenario planning, suggest external advice, or simply ask for open discussion. For example:

• Could we conduct scenario planning to better understand the range of possible outcomes?
• Would it be valuable to seek an external expert's opinion on this matter?
• Could we open the floor for discussion to consider all viewpoints and potential consequences?

Your takeaways:

• Being able to see both sides of any issue allows the board to evaluate risks and benefits, balance stakeholder interests, anticipate challenges, and make informed decisions.
• Cognitive biases, different values and beliefs, emotional reactions, and personal interests get in the way of being able to see an issue from different perspectives.
• We can get better at it by cultivating open-mindedness, seeking out diverse perspectives, actively listening, and thinking critically.
• The board chair has a vital role in helping the board see an issue from multiple perspectives.
• Asking questions is the best tool an individual director has to encourage multiple perspectives in the boardroom.

"Make the habit of assuming there are always more ways to perceive, interpret or understand a situation than your current way.” — Jody Michael

Resources:

• The Power of Perspective: Embracing Diverse Views in Decision Making. Daniel CF Ng. Medium. December 2023.
• Seeing the whole picture: Why perspective-taking is a powerful tool for sustainable decision-making. Gabriele Rosani and Mattia Vettorello. IMD. October 2023.
• Magnify Your Leadership with Multiple Perspectives. Jody Michael. Forbes. September 2022.
• The Multi-Perspective Mindset: How to Navigate the Realities of Life. Thomas Oppong. Hive.com. May 2022.
• 12 Ways to consider different perspectives before making an important business decision. Fast Company Executive Board. Fast Company. March 2021.
• Perspective in Problem Solving: Try to See Things from All Sides. John Schveibinz. LinkedIn. November 2016.
• Seeing Both Sides of an Issue. Dave Kellogg. Kellblog. June 2010.

Thank you.

Scott

Scott Baldwin is a certified corporate director (ICD.D) and co-founder of DirectorPrep.com – an online membership with practical tools and insights for board directors who choose a growth mindset.

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