How do you manage the friction during our sessions when we have some team members who process slowly and others who want instant decisions?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

We manage cognitive differences during session days by recognizing how different people process information. We use Kolb's learning styles to understand if your team members are Divergers who need to gather wide information, or Convergers who want immediate practical applications. If we do not account for these styles, your sessions will stall. A team member with high Fact Finder tendencies will want to analyze every detail, while a high Quickstart will want to jump straight to action. I structure our facilitation to give both styles room. We allow brief periods for reflective observation so the analytical thinkers can process, but we set hard time limits on discussions to keep the active experimenters engaged. This keeps the IDS® process moving efficiently. By creating a shared vocabulary around these cognitive differences, we reduce interpersonal friction and make decisions based on the collective strengths of the team rather than loudest voice in the room.