I think we’ve all met The Straw Man somewhere along our business journey. No, he isn’t a person. He’s the distorted version of something that moves the argument away from the real issues. I say that Bill has a great idea to improve something. Bill’s idea involves changes in your area and so you say Bill is constantly late for work. We then spend time discussing if Bill is a valuable employee rather than if Bill’s idea can improve our business. Meet The Straw Man.
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To venture into the land of politics, given that it’s an election year, The Straw Man will be making hourly appearances on TV. No matter what your political beliefs if you listen carefully much of the discussion is not about how to solve real problems (here is my plan) but about side issues, quotes out of context, and the character of the other side. Guess who just joined the conversation?
While I’m not sure we can do much Straw Men on the political front, we sure can in business and here is how.
Identify the core issue. I am always suspicious when a conversation involves personal attacks. In the example above, the issue is how to improve a business process, not whose idea it was. I’ve worked with a number of real jerks who were very smart and got things done. Conversations can meander – those aer the more insidious types of Straw Men. Keep focusing on the real issue and bringing the discussion back to that.
I spend a lot of time asking a very simple question – what are we trying to do here? That tends to keep The Straw Man out of the room. I’m also a fan of the reductio as absurdum method of carrying out statements to their logical extremes either to prove or disprove them quickly. In the above example, if Bill is always late for work he would never be in the office for an early meeting or reply to emails before the official commencement of work. Since he hasn’t missed a meeting and often replies to email early in the morning before he leaves his home for the office, I’m pretty sure he’s not “constantly” late for work. In fact, based on his email traffic to us, we might think about telling him to take a break and recharge since he seems to work 18 hours a day! In any event, a discussion of what being late means and when/where someone is working is The Straw Man getting in between us and the real issue.
Keeping The Straw Man at bay is hard work – the dude keeps wanting to get involved. Don’t let him!
Consult Keith 