What can track and field teach us about shared decision making?
In the September 2, 2022 Musing, I referred to the Danish proverb: Those who would leap high must take a long run. As I thought about it further, I realized that two track and field events provide a useful metaphor for thinking about shared decision making.
Track and field competitions have two jumping events where the goal is to go horizontally as far as possible: the long jump and the triple jump. Is shared decision making more like the former or the latter?
In the long jump, the athlete accelerates down a runway, leaps off of one foot, and tries to go as far as possible.
The goal of the triple jump is the same as the long jump, but rather than a single jump, it consists of three separate movements: a hop, a step, and a jump. Current World Athletics rules specify that:
“The Triple Jump shall consist of a hop, a step and a jump in that order… The hop shall be made so that an athlete lands first on the same foot as that from which they have taken off; in the step they shall land on the other foot, from which, subsequently, the jump is performed.” (https://www.worldathletics.org/about-iaaf/documents/book-of-rules)
More information about both events can be found using the links below.
I think that successful shared decision making, like the triple jump, requires a combination of skills including information mastery, communication prowess, and decision making expertise. Relying on a strictly conversation-based approach, like the 3-talk model, seems to me like trying to win a triple jump competition using the long jump technique. It just won’t work.
Rather than train clinicians to be long jumpers who rely on a single technique, we should train them to be triple jumpers, who learn how to successfully master and combine different skills to achieve a goal.
Footnote
1. World Athletics is the new name for the international governing body of track and field and other running and race walking events. It was formerly known as IAAF, an acronym that stood for both involved organizations: the International Amateur Athletic Federation and the International Association of Athletics Federations.
Long jump information
https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Long_jump
https://www.euston96.com/en/long-jump/
Video: World’s greatest long jumps
Triple jump information
Wikipedia: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Triple_jump
Wikihow: https://www.wikihow.com/Triple-Jump