Recently I came across this article which talks about how some of the sabotage techniques in a declassified CIA field manual mirror some of the more frustrating parts of some company cultures. I’ve included an except below:
Interesting reading! Especially when you compare it to decision making processes in business. It’s pretty much exactly what you don’t want to do. If you can’t make decisions effectively, you’ll struggle to be productive. However if you take the eight points listed above and reverse them, you get something like this:
- Make decisions quickly, taking shortcuts to expedite decision making where you can.
- Make your point concisely
- Avoid committees as much as possible. Try to keep the number of people making the decision below five
- Don’t bring up irrelevant issues, stick to the topic.
- Focus on the intention of communication instead of specific wordings.
- Don’t reopen discussions when a decision has been made. (At least until you have tried it for a bit or have new information)
- Be brave, make decisions with courage.
- Don’t worry about whether a decision conflicts with another.
Which feels a whole lot more useful and productive! You could try using these as meeting norms in your next meeting.
itsnickmaidment 