Research Hit: “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

Research shows that asking what could go wrong is more effective in countering problems and ethical missteps.

Isn’t the best way to finish a meeting by summarising the next steps?

This is certainly better than finishing on questions — and the advice I have traditionally given.

But this recent analysis looked at factors in ethical decision making with scientists and engineers and came to a slightly different conclusion. The conclusion is surprisingly simple — which is nice!

And what is that conclusion?

When making decisions, or planning for research, many ethical considerations are unintentionally forgotten, minimised, or not given enough thought. This could be for valid and innocent reasons — a scientist focusing on the results they hope to achieve may forget to prioritise certain ethical considerations.

The simple conclusion in this analysis is that the finishing questions in a meeting should be “What could go wrong?”.

And this makes a difference?

Yes, because it shifts the focus and we are actually good at pre-empting problems when we focus on them: this is not about blocking an initiative but carefully pre-empting…