Disclosure: Thinking out loud…better than where we are now.
What if …
“collaboration” and “reaching across the aisle” replaced “ego” and “intransigence?” What if there was reliance only on evidence and facts?
First, there is a high probability, I believe, that this will likely not soon happen because the positions that are held by opposing parties include, not only “fact free” driven perspectives masquerading as “truth,” but also “opinion” driving individual and shared “beliefs.”
A Knowledge Management Solution to the US Gov’t Shutdown
What if a centrist, moderate focused group of representatives (leadership and rank-and-file) from opposing views collaborated in a room with an independent facilitator and they did the following:
- First, each sides key stakeholder’s conduct an internal After Action Review (AARs) where the following questions are asked with regard to the Shutdown:
- What objectives are we trying to achieve in maintaining the shutdown?
- Did we/are we achieving those objectives?
- If we are not achieving those objectives, why are the results turning out different than planned?
- What can we learn from this and change immediately (to end the shutdown)?
- Next, with the results of the AARs, both sides meet together in the same room with a facilitator and share their learnings. Each side commits to closure of this process together until a solution is reached.
- Based on the shared learnings and insights gained from this session, invite relevant subject matter experts (SMEs) and “operators” and accept only “evidence-based” facts from those responsible for the practical development and application of government operational policies and procedures that can talk to, for example, the measurable impacts of border barriers observed over a reasonable period of time to know what works, what doesn’t, and why. The sources could be from within or from outside the US. The requirement is being able to clearly explain the “context” for the conclusions to be drawn from the shared information (e.g. success measures), expertise and experience (i.e. knowledge) of the SMEs and the “operators.”
- We understand that facts and measures can be interpreted in many ways to drive many ends. Consider something as simple as aligning the facts, the interpretations, and the measures of success and their interpretation, next to each other, and examining where the “fact based” differences are that are subject to multiple interpretations, and then finding evidence to further resolve these differences in understanding. Kind of like a literature review for a PhD thesis, eventually you are going to come to closure.
Worth consideration, this framework may be an approach to a solution and decision that relies on “facts” and truth” rather than only “belief” and “opinion” … or at least fact-based beliefs that can be driven to consensus…and progress forward.
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