The Paralysis of Concern

There’s a real good chance that if you’ve been in a meeting today pitching a new idea or discussing an initiative, someone nodded approvingly but then started a response with the four words that are the linguistic equivalent of air brakes: “My only concern is…”

And chances are it isn’t their “only” concern, because very often it is followed by “yeah, but…”

Also known as the Golden-Stopper, the Idea-Smasher and the Momentum-Snuffer, “MOCI” may also appear as “my only fear is,” “what scares me is,” or “I’m hesitant of.”

Before we go any further with this, let’s be clear that I’m not against the voicing of feelings and frank discussion. Any idea or new effort should be put through a series of firewalls that analyze, dissect and challenge it relative to the human and financial resources that will need to be dedicated to it. However, MOCI is most often an impulse response usually by the glass-is-half-empty part of our brains. In fact, some people are just organically negative, a sub-population of momentum snuffers: They are the MOCI tribe led by Chief Poopooer.

The MOCI will often say that they are just being realists; that they don’t mean to be negative, but that they just naturally identify obstacles and feel the need to be the first to verbalize them. Fair enough. But then it is up to someone else to defend the original position or find the work-around. The MOCI tend not to be great problem-solvers. Chances are, too, that they may be focusing on a minor component of the idea, and not the big picture.

A 2006 study entitled “The Effect of Power on Strategies” discussed a test of 175 pairs of participants who engaged in a three person role-play game using a simple conflict of interest scenario. Each participant was assigned a position of “self-concern,” “other-concern,” and “power.” The results showed that only 12.4 percent of the participants reached an integrative solution. The study hypothesized that those in the power position were the spoilers, that they hindered the ability to reach an integrative solution; they tended to insist on their own position (Shearman, Sachiyo M.. "Power, Self-Concern, and Other-Concern in Negotiation with a Fully Integrative Potential" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, Dresden International Congress Centre, Dresden, Germany, June 16, 2006).

I can only imagine how many times during these role-play games MOCI was uttered.

So are the MOCI all about power? It depends on their attitudinal overview - if they’re generally negative or generally realistic. Recall that most will say they are just being realistic. However, the test is that those that tend to be negative are like Glum from the old Gulliver’s Travels cartoon – if you’re over 40 you remember him: “We’re doomed, it’ll never work.” Those that are truly realistic will work as hard to see the merits of an idea as hard as they work to see the obstacles.

The MOCI could also be skilled stallers. They might perceive an idea as one that could actually work – which means that it would ultimately mean more work for them. And it may be a genuine, um, concern. Perhaps their negative response is a coded message that they feel they are already buried, and if they take Chief Poopooer’s tack, perhaps the idea will just trot away into the pasture never to be seen again.

So how do we handle the MOCI? They may be good employees who are otherwise dependable and responsible. Once you’ve determined their general attitudinal outlook – generally negative or realistic – your initial presentation can be modified. For those that are negatively predisposed, before you present an idea to a group it might be a good idea to pull them aside individually and discuss it with them personally. Let them have their power – but it’s isolated, it won’t suck the momentum from the group. Then contract with him that when it is presented to the group that he refrains from impulsively responding without taking more time to consider the idea and perhaps make a list of concerns to be addressed at a later time. He may actually have some real concerns that bear more thought by the leadership.

For those that are realistic, they may drop the MOCI line in the meeting, but the presenter should follow it up with a quick response such as “that’s true, can you think of a work around or solution?” Again, they may actually have a good thought and may enlighten you to something you hadn’t considered. The real purpose of it though, is that you acknowledged their power play, called them on it and asked them to be accountable for it.

Again, the idea is not to curtail discussion. In fact, it is just the opposite – it is empower it and minimize the energy-sapping negativity that often sacks a good idea before it has any time to build momentum. You will eventually create a culture where ideas are allowed to germinate a bit before being nipped or nurtured.