The Psychology of NOKRs

How are your new year’s resolutions going? Add in more healthy foods, more movement, more family/friend time? At work, we might add new OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), more meetings, new rules, or new campaigns. I’m not saying these are bad, but we are predisposed to adding to what exists now. We bias ourselves towards only one way to solve a problem.

What human beings are really bad at is actually solving problems by thinking about what we should take away. This subtraction neglect impedes us from seeing all possible solutions, and sometimes, the better solution.

SO WHAT DO WE KNOW?

How do most participants fix this structure to make the roof more stable?

source: “Adding is favoured over subtracting in problem solving”, Nature, 2021

We have an Addition Heuristic. A study with legos (see figure above) showed that people defaulted to adding blocks on the other 3 sides, even if it cost money (10 cents per block). Participants would get paid $1 to complete the task. Only when participants were also told that subtracting blocks was free, did they easily realize the superior solution was to take away a block (the pillar support).

• Without a cue to subtract, 41% took away the block (subtracted) and in the cue condition (reminded to subtract), 61% took away the block
• The subtraction cue group took home 10% more money than the non cued group

Similar results were found in how people tend to add when told to improve essays, itineraries, and even cooking recipes.

The same researchers also showed that under cognitive load (having to do more than one task at a time), people were more likely to default to addition, even if the better solution was subtraction.

It’s hard to observe/give recognition to subtraction. We’re always encouraged to “show our work”. When we subtract, it’s harder to show our contribution by what is not there. Work systems that measure success through additions will naturally tend towards bloat.

SO WHAT…

…about me?

• Reframe subtraction. Clean, carve, reveal, distill, edit, simplify… instead of focusing on the negative or emphasis on loss, how can we approach problems by decluttering the nonessential? Social media is now abound with #deinfluencing and “things I’m not going to buy in 2024”, and “things I’m not going to do in 2024” — hooray for less!
• Focus on adding AND subtracting. Adding is not bad, but when we think of adding, get in the habit of also asking what we should take away first.
• What activities can we say no to? Can you revel in the joy of missing out? Instead of doing it all, can you focus your time and energy on the things that matter most? Find a few things that don’t provide you purpose or joy — how bad are the consequences really if you drop them?

…about work?

• Encourage our teams to commit to NOKRs. How do we remind people to subtract? What work are you saying no to? What projects or meetings are worth your time and energy?
• Don’t multitask to solve problems. Stuck on a problem? The more things that you are juggling in your head, the less likely you are to tap into subtractive solutions — your brain will default to an additive heuristic.
• How do we celebrate subtraction? When we measure contribution, is it only on what someone has added? How do we encourage fewer projects with greater impact, rather than measure by the amount of projects (or additions)? Can we show how eliminating something had a noticeable impact (e.g., with track changes — can we see an improvement in the end product by how ruthlessly someone edited a document to make it impactful)?

WANT TO LEARN MORE?

Adams, G. S., Converse, B. A., Hales, A. H., & Klotz, L. E. (2022). When Subtraction Adds Value. Harvard Business Review.

Adams, G. S., Converse, B. A., Hales, A. H., & Klotz, L. E. (2021). People systematically overlook subtractive changes. Nature, 592(7853), 258–261.

Klotz, L. E. (2021). Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less. Flatiron Books.

WHO IS PSY.KO?

PsykoBabble is a curation of some of my favorite psych concepts and also the latest and greatest in the realms of social psychology. Why? I have a PhD in cultural and digital psychology — this newsletter helps me stay on top of a field I love so much, share what I’ve found, and constantly push psychology’s application to life and work in meaningful ways.