The stepladder technique was invented by Steven Rogelberg, Janet Barnes-Farrell, and Charles Lowe in 1992. The creators acknowledged that while making group decisions could be difficult, making good group decisions could be even harder. The stepladder technique is an approach used to increase group decision-making effectiveness.
Aspect
Description
Introduction
The Stepladder Technique is a communication and decision-making strategy used in group discussions and meetings to encourage participation and ensure that all voices are heard. It is particularly helpful in situations where there may be dominant individuals or a fear of speaking up. The technique is designed to gradually introduce participants to a discussion, allowing each person to contribute their ideas sequentially.
Key Concepts
– Inclusive Communication: The Stepladder Technique promotes inclusive communication by providing each participant with a structured opportunity to express their thoughts.
– Preventing Groupthink: It helps prevent groupthink by ensuring that all perspectives are considered before reaching a decision.
– Structured Participation: The technique offers a structured approach to participation, reducing interruptions and encouraging active listening.
Steps in the Technique
The Stepladder Technique involves the following steps:
1. Introduce the Topic: The discussion leader introduces the topic to the initial group members, typically a subset of the larger group.
2. Discuss in Pairs: The initial group members discuss the topic in pairs, sharing their thoughts and ideas.
3. Add One Member: One additional participant is added to the discussion, joining the initial group members.
4. Continue Discussion: The group of three participants continues the discussion, with the new member contributing their ideas.
5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4: The process is repeated, adding one participant at a time until all members of the larger group are involved.
6. Full Group Discussion: Finally, the entire group engages in a full discussion, incorporating the ideas and perspectives shared during the sequential introductions.
Applications
The Stepladder Technique is used in various settings, including:
– Business Meetings: It is effective in business meetings, project discussions, and decision-making processes.
– Academic Settings: It can facilitate classroom discussions, group projects, and academic debates.
– Problem Solving: The technique is valuable for problem-solving sessions where diverse viewpoints are essential.
– Team Building: It can be employed in team-building activities to promote collaboration and communication.
Challenges and Considerations
Challenges in using the Stepladder Technique include:
– Time-Consuming: The technique can be time-consuming, especially with large groups.
– Facilitation Skills: Effective facilitation is required to manage the process and ensure everyone participates.
– Resistance: Some participants may resist the structured approach, preferring more open discussions.
Future Trends
Future trends in communication and decision-making may include:
– Virtual Collaboration: Adapting the Stepladder Technique for virtual meetings and remote team collaboration.
– AI Facilitation: The use of artificial intelligence for facilitating structured discussions and tracking contributions.
– Cultural Adaptations: Customizing the technique to accommodate cultural norms and communication styles.
Conclusion
The Stepladder Technique is a valuable strategy for promoting inclusive communication and decision-making in group discussions. By gradually introducing participants to a conversation, it ensures that all voices are heard and reduces the potential for dominance or groupthink. While it may be time-consuming and requires effective facilitation, it remains a powerful tool for fostering collaboration and diverse perspectives.
The stepladder technique endeavors to make this process more effective by enabling each group member to contribute individually before there is an opportunity to be influenced by someone else. This improves the quality of ideas put forth and avoids a scenario where individuals with dominant personalities overpower others.
The technique is also one of several similar frameworks that decrease the likelihood of groupthink. This is a common occurrence during the ideation phase where groups reach a consensus or make a decision without testing or challenging their ideas first. The stepladder technique also reduces social loafing, where a disinterested group member hides behind the contribution of someone else.
Implementing the stepladder technique
There are five general steps to implementing the stepladder technique:
Explain the problem – a facilitator starts by telling each group member the problem or task at hand. This must be done individually, with each individual given enough time before the group comes together to think about possible solutions.
Build the ladder – after sufficient time has passed, the facilitator asks two members of the group to discuss the problem in a private and comfortable setting.
Continue the process – once the initial two individuals have discussed their respective ideas, a third person is permitted to enter the room and join the conversation. The third person presents their ideas to the other two before anything is discussed as a group. This avoids groupthink and encourages everyone to share their unadulterated thoughts.
Complete the ladder – this means the process in step three is repeated until each member has had a chance to share their thoughts.
Making a decision – in making a decision, teams must avoid the temptation to default to an obvious solution before all opinions have been heard. Following the stepladder technique through to the end is important in encouraging diverse input.
Weaknesses of the stepladder technique
Despite its obvious strengths, the stepladder technique is not perfect.
Some of the weaknesses businesses need to keep in mind include:
Tokenism – the stepladder technique is a more inclusive approach to brainstorming, but it can be reduced to a token effort if dominant personalities are allowed to interrupt or challenge the opinions of members entering the discussion room.
Efficiency – the staggered approach of the technique means it will likely take longer to complete than similar frameworks, especially if there are large groups involved. Companies that require greater efficiency in decision-making may be forced to look elsewhere. For best results, groups size should be limited to 4-7 members.
Utility – the stepladder technique is a systematic approach to making a single decision. As a result, it may be impractical and needlessly exhaustive in situations requiring multiple decisions to be made.
Case Studies
Business Strategy Meeting
Explain the Problem: In a strategic planning meeting, the facilitator presents the challenge of entering a new market to a diverse team. Each member has time to think independently about market entry strategies.
Build the Ladder: Two team members, one from marketing and one from sales, discuss potential strategies in a separate session, combining their expertise.
Continue the Process: A third team member from research and development joins the discussion. They bring innovative product ideas that could impact market entry.
Complete the Ladder: The process continues, with members from finance, operations, and customer service offering their perspectives on market entry strategies.
Making a Decision: The team avoids rushing to a decision and carefully evaluates all input before selecting the most viable market entry strategy.
Agile Software Development
Explain the Problem: In an Agile software development team, the product owner presents the challenge of improving user onboarding for a mobile app. Each developer has time to brainstorm individual solutions.
Build the Ladder: Two developers with relevant expertise in user interfaces and backend systems discuss potential solutions privately.
Continue the Process: A third developer specializing in user experience joins the discussion and presents wireframes for a more intuitive onboarding process.
Complete the Ladder: The process continues, with developers focusing on security, performance, and analytics sharing their ideas for enhancing the onboarding experience.
Making a Decision: The Agile team ensures that all suggestions are considered and prioritizes the most feasible and impactful improvements to the user onboarding process.
Tech Startup Product Ideation
Explain the Problem: In a tech startup’s product ideation session, the facilitator presents the challenge of creating a unique and market-disrupting app. Each team member takes time to generate individual ideas.
Build the Ladder: Two members, a software developer and a UI/UX designer, discuss their innovative ideas and explore how they can merge technical feasibility with user experience.
Continue the Process: A third team member with marketing expertise joins the conversation, providing insights into market trends and user preferences.
Complete the Ladder: The process continues, with contributions from a data scientist focusing on analytics and a business strategist considering monetization strategies.
Making a Decision: The startup team carefully evaluates all suggestions, aiming to develop a groundbreaking app by combining the strengths of each idea.
Key takeaways:
The stepladder technique is an approach used to increase group decision-making effectiveness invented by Steven Rogelberg, Janet Barnes-Farrell, and Charles Lowe in 1992.
The stepladder technique can be performed in five simple steps: explain the problem, build the ladder, continue the process, complete the ladder, and make a decision. A good facilitator will ensure the process is respected with all personal opinions heard.
The stepladder technique does have some limitations. While it helps teams avoid groupthink, it is not immune to manipulation from dominant individuals. The technique may also be unsuitable in situations requiring multiple decisions or where time is limited.
Key Highlights
Understanding the Stepladder Technique: The Stepladder Technique was introduced in 1992 by Steven Rogelberg, Janet Barnes-Farrell, and Charles Lowe. It aims to enhance group decision-making effectiveness by allowing each group member to contribute their ideas individually before being influenced by others. This helps prevent dominant personalities from overpowering the group and mitigates issues like groupthink and social loafing.
Implementing the Technique:
Explain the Problem: A facilitator presents the problem to each group member individually, allowing time for independent thought.
Build the Ladder: Two members discuss the problem privately and comfortably.
Continue the Process: A third member enters, presents their ideas to the first two, and the process repeats, avoiding groupthink.
Complete the Ladder: The cycle continues until every member has shared their ideas.
Making a Decision: The group should avoid hasty decisions and ensure all opinions are considered.
Weaknesses of the Technique:
Tokenism: Dominant personalities might undermine the inclusive nature of the technique.
Efficiency: The staggered approach can take longer, making it less suitable for situations requiring quick decisions. Optimal group size is 4-7 members.
Utility: The technique is best suited for making a single decision, making it impractical for scenarios requiring multiple decisions.
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The concept of cognitive biases was introduced and popularized by the work of Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1972. Biases are seen as systematic errors and flaws that make humans deviate from the standards of rationality, thus making us inept at making good decisions under uncertainty.
Second-order thinking is a means of assessing the implications of our decisions by considering future consequences. Second-order thinking is a mental model that considers all future possibilities. It encourages individuals to think outside of the box so that they can prepare for every and eventuality. It also discourages the tendency for individuals to default to the most obvious choice.
Lateral thinking is a business strategy that involves approaching a problem from a different direction. The strategy attempts to remove traditionally formulaic and routine approaches to problem-solving by advocating creative thinking, therefore finding unconventional ways to solve a known problem. This sort of non-linear approach to problem-solving, can at times, create a big impact.
Bounded rationality is a concept attributed to Herbert Simon, an economist and political scientist interested in decision-making and how we make decisions in the real world. In fact, he believed that rather than optimizing (which was the mainstream view in the past decades) humans follow what he called satisficing.
The Dunning-Kruger effect describes a cognitive bias where people with low ability in a task overestimate their ability to perform that task well. Consumers or businesses that do not possess the requisite knowledge make bad decisions. What’s more, knowledge gaps prevent the person or business from seeing their mistakes.
Occam’s Razor states that one should not increase (beyond reason) the number of entities required to explain anything. All things being equal, the simplest solution is often the best one. The principle is attributed to 14th-century English theologian William of Ockham.
The Lindy Effect is a theory about the ageing of non-perishable things, like technology or ideas. Popularized by author Nicholas Nassim Taleb, the Lindy Effect states that non-perishable things like technology age – linearly – in reverse. Therefore, the older an idea or a technology, the same will be its life expectancy.
Antifragility was first coined as a term by author, and options trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Antifragility is a characteristic of systems that thrive as a result of stressors, volatility, and randomness. Therefore, Antifragile is the opposite of fragile. Where a fragile thing breaks up to volatility; a robust thing resists volatility. An antifragile thing gets stronger from volatility (provided the level of stressors and randomness doesn’t pass a certain threshold).
Ergodicity is one of the most important concepts in statistics. Ergodicity is a mathematical concept suggesting that a point of a moving system will eventually visit all parts of the space the system moves in. On the opposite side, non-ergodic means that a system doesn’t visit all the possible parts, as there are absorbing barriers
Systems thinking is a holistic means of investigating the factors and interactions that could contribute to a potential outcome. It is about thinking non-linearly, and understanding the second-order consequences of actions and input into the system.
Vertical thinking, on the other hand, is a problem-solving approach that favors a selective, analytical, structured, and sequential mindset. The focus of vertical thinking is to arrive at a reasoned, defined solution.
Metaphorical thinking describes a mental process in which comparisons are made between qualities of objects usually considered to be separate classifications. Metaphorical thinking is a mental process connecting two different universes of meaning and is the result of the mind looking for similarities.
Maslow’s Hammer, otherwise known as the law of the instrument or the Einstellung effect, is a cognitive bias causing an over-reliance on a familiar tool. This can be expressed as the tendency to overuse a known tool (perhaps a hammer) to solve issues that might require a different tool. This problem is persistent in the business world where perhaps known tools or frameworks might be used in the wrong context (like business plans used as planning tools instead of only investors’ pitches).
The Peter Principle was first described by Canadian sociologist Lawrence J. Peter in his 1969 book The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that people are continually promoted within an organization until they reach their level of incompetence.
The straw man fallacy describes an argument that misrepresents an opponent’s stance to make rebuttal more convenient. The straw man fallacy is a type of informal logical fallacy, defined as a flaw in the structure of an argument that renders it invalid.
The Google effect is a tendency for individuals to forget information that is readily available through search engines. During the Google effect – sometimes called digital amnesia – individuals have an excessive reliance on digital information as a form of memory recall.
The Streisand Effect is a paradoxical phenomenon where the act of suppressing information to reduce visibility causes it to become more visible. In 2003, Streisand attempted to suppress aerial photographs of her Californian home by suing photographer Kenneth Adelman for an invasion of privacy. Adelman, who Streisand assumed was paparazzi, was instead taking photographs to document and study coastal erosion. In her quest for more privacy, Streisand’s efforts had the opposite effect.
Single-attribute choices – such as choosing the apartment with the lowest rent – are relatively simple. However, most of the decisions consumers make are based on multiple attributes which complicate the decision-making process. The compromise effect states that a consumer is more likely to choose the middle option of a set of products over more extreme options.
In business, the butterfly effect describes the phenomenon where the simplest actions yield the largest rewards. The butterfly effect was coined by meteorologist Edward Lorenz in 1960 and as a result, it is most often associated with weather in pop culture. Lorenz noted that the small action of a butterfly fluttering its wings had the potential to cause progressively larger actions resulting in a typhoon.
The IKEA effect is a cognitive bias that describes consumers’ tendency to value something more if they have made it themselves. That is why brands often use the IKEA effect to have customizations for final products, as they help the consumer relate to it more and therefore appending to it more value.
The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts when they look back at the Earth from space. The shift occurs because of the impressive visual spectacle of the Earth and tends to be characterized by a state of awe and increased self-transcendence.
The house money effect was first described by researchers Richard Thaler and Eric Johnson in a 1990 study entitled Gambling with the House Money and Trying to Break Even: The Effects of Prior Outcomes on Risky Choice. The house money effect is a cognitive bias where investors take higher risks on reinvested capital than they would on an initial investment.
As highlighted by German psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer in the paper “Heuristic Decision Making,” the term heuristic is of Greek origin, meaning “serving to find out or discover.” More precisely, a heuristic is a fast and accurate way to make decisions in the real world, which is driven by uncertainty.
The recognition heuristic is a psychological model of judgment and decision making. It is part of a suite of simple and economical heuristics proposed by psychologists Daniel Goldstein and Gerd Gigerenzer. The recognition heuristic argues that inferences are made about an object based on whether it is recognized or not.
The representativeness heuristic was first described by psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The representativeness heuristic judges the probability of an event according to the degree to which that event resembles a broader class. When queried, most will choose the first option because the description of John matches the stereotype we may hold for an archaeologist.
The take-the-best heuristic is a decision-making shortcut that helps an individual choose between several alternatives. The take-the-best (TTB) heuristic decides between two or more alternatives based on a single good attribute, otherwise known as a cue. In the process, less desirable attributes are ignored.
The bundling bias is a cognitive bias in e-commerce where a consumer tends not to use all of the products bought as a group, or bundle. Bundling occurs when individual products or services are sold together as a bundle. Common examples are tickets and experiences. The bundling bias dictates that consumers are less likely to use each item in the bundle. This means that the value of the bundle and indeed the value of each item in the bundle is decreased.
The Barnum Effect is a cognitive bias where individuals believe that generic information – which applies to most people – is specifically tailored for themselves.
The anchoring effect describes the human tendency to rely on an initial piece of information (the “anchor”) to make subsequent judgments or decisions. Price anchoring, then, is the process of establishing a price point that customers can reference when making a buying decision.
The decoy effect is a psychological phenomenon where inferior – or decoy – options influence consumer preferences. Businesses use the decoy effect to nudge potential customers toward the desired target product. The decoy effect is staged by placing a competitorproduct and a decoy product, which is primarily used to nudge the customer toward the target product.
Commitment bias describes the tendency of an individual to remain committed to past behaviors – even if they result in undesirable outcomes. The bias is particularly pronounced when such behaviors are performed publicly. Commitment bias is also known as escalation of commitment.
First-principles thinking – sometimes called reasoning from first principles – is used to reverse-engineer complex problems and encourage creativity. It involves breaking down problems into basic elements and reassembling them from the ground up. Elon Musk is among the strongest proponents of this way of thinking.
The ladder of inference is a conscious or subconscious thinking process where an individual moves from a fact to a decision or action. The ladder of inference was created by academic Chris Argyris to illustrate how people form and then use mental models to make decisions.
Goodhart’s Law is named after British monetary policy theorist and economist Charles Goodhart. Speaking at a conference in Sydney in 1975, Goodhart said that “any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes.” Goodhart’s Law states that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.
The Six Thinking Hats model was created by psychologist Edward de Bono in 1986, who noted that personality type was a key driver of how people approached problem-solving. For example, optimists view situations differently from pessimists. Analytical individuals may generate ideas that a more emotional person would not, and vice versa.
The Mandela effect is a phenomenon where a large group of people remembers an event differently from how it occurred. The Mandela effect was first described in relation to Fiona Broome, who believed that former South African President Nelson Mandela died in prison during the 1980s. While Mandela was released from prison in 1990 and died 23 years later, Broome remembered news coverage of his death in prison and even a speech from his widow. Of course, neither event occurred in reality. But Broome was later to discover that she was not the only one with the same recollection of events.
The bandwagon effect tells us that the more a belief or idea has been adopted by more people within a group, the more the individual adoption of that idea might increase within the same group. This is the psychological effect that leads to herd mentality. What in marketing can be associated with social proof.
Moore’s law states that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years. This observation was made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 and it become a guiding principle for the semiconductor industry and has had far-reaching implications for technology as a whole.
Disruptive innovation as a term was first described by Clayton M. Christensen, an American academic and business consultant whom The Economist called “the most influential management thinker of his time.” Disruptive innovation describes the process by which a product or service takes hold at the bottom of a market and eventually displaces established competitors, products, firms, or alliances.
Value migration was first described by author Adrian Slywotzky in his 1996 book Value Migration – How to Think Several Moves Ahead of the Competition. Value migration is the transferal of value-creating forces from outdated business models to something better able to satisfy consumer demands.
The bye-now effect describes the tendency for consumers to think of the word “buy” when they read the word “bye”. In a study that tracked diners at a name-your-own-price restaurant, each diner was asked to read one of two phrases before ordering their meal. The first phrase, “so long”, resulted in diners paying an average of $32 per meal. But when diners recited the phrase “bye bye” before ordering, the average price per meal rose to $45.
Groupthink occurs when well-intentioned individuals make non-optimal or irrational decisions based on a belief that dissent is impossible or on a motivation to conform. Groupthink occurs when members of a group reach a consensus without critical reasoning or evaluation of the alternatives and their consequences.
A stereotype is a fixed and over-generalized belief about a particular group or class of people. These beliefs are based on the false assumption that certain characteristics are common to every individual residing in that group. Many stereotypes have a long and sometimes controversial history and are a direct consequence of various political, social, or economic events. Stereotyping is the process of making assumptions about a person or group of people based on various attributes, including gender, race, religion, or physical traits.
Murphy’s Law states that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. Murphy’s Law was named after aerospace engineer Edward A. Murphy. During his time working at Edwards Air Force Base in 1949, Murphy cursed a technician who had improperly wired an electrical component and said, “If there is any way to do it wrong, he’ll find it.”
The law of unintended consequences was first mentioned by British philosopher John Locke when writing to parliament about the unintended effects of interest rate rises. However, it was popularized in 1936 by American sociologist Robert K. Merton who looked at unexpected, unanticipated, and unintended consequences and their impact on society.
Fundamental attribution error is a bias people display when judging the behavior of others. The tendency is to over-emphasize personal characteristics and under-emphasize environmental and situational factors.
Outcome bias describes a tendency to evaluate a decision based on its outcome and not on the process by which the decision was reached. In other words, the quality of a decision is only determined once the outcome is known. Outcome bias occurs when a decision is based on the outcome of previous events without regard for how those events developed.
Hindsight bias is the tendency for people to perceive past events as more predictable than they actually were. The result of a presidential election, for example, seems more obvious when the winner is announced. The same can also be said for the avid sports fan who predicted the correct outcome of a match regardless of whether their team won or lost. Hindsight bias, therefore, is the tendency for an individual to convince themselves that they accurately predicted an event before it happened.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
