Maximum Utility for Minimal Cost
What do the art of bargaining and the popularity of sites such as Living Social and Groupon have in common? Getting the biggest bang for one’s buck. Something has to provide more value than the effort involved to secure it.
I might be stretching the point a bit for people who enjoy bargaining at a bazaar in a far off land. I’ve been told that those people enjoy the haggling process, the game, more than actually getting the possession. But, for most of us, we love the idea of greater returns on our investment, which defines Maximum Utility for Minimal Cost
So, how does Minimum/Maximum Utility apply to listening? Let me site a situation as an example:
Barbara, Rolph, Maria, and Sergei are in a meeting to decide on whether to expand their line of goods by purchasing items or making their own—the classic make/buy conundrum.
At the start of the meeting, Sergei says, “I have all the figures in front of me and there’s no question that we should buy the items.”
Barbara, almost levitating out of her seat counters with, “Figures aren’t the only thing that we need to make this decision. What about employee morale, brand identity, relationships with local businesses, word-of-mouth…”
Before she can get another thought out, Sergei comes back with more data and facts to support his argument. The two of them just debate while the other two sit in disgust and growing disinterest.
Finally, Maria asks, “You guys, we’re not getting anywhere, you’re wasting everyone’s time and we’re nowhere close to making this very important decision.”
Maria’s comments describe a situation with minimal utility and maximum cost: time, progress, decision-making, collaboration, relationships. Rolph brings them around with, “Obviously, you two have very strong opinions about how we should proceed. How about if we give each of us five minutes to talk, uninterrupted, about what we think is the real problem and propose a couple of ideas about how to address it?”
Everyone agrees and follows the process, which shifts the interaction towards maximum utility and minimum cost. Listening was the lynchpin that caused the shift. Utility soared when everyone paid attention to everyone else—the ping-pong negotiation match was replaced with open listening. Instead assuming their singular point-of-view was well reasoned and right, there was much more and better information on the table to inform their group decision.
The moral of this little case can be seen millions of times a day: listening is cost effective. Also, it takes less effort to listen the first time than it does to re-do mistakes.
When you are in a situation that might have some real ramifications, ask yourself,
How do I get maximum utility with minimum cost?
And to our bargain hunters you might ask yourself what you really want, the object, power, verbal sparring, or conveying respect.
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