For the longest time decisions were made at the top. They were made by powerful people who had knowledge no one else had, who had insights that no one else could and had skillsets that were unique and unavailable to the masses. Only they could decide… and to everyone else it was a mystery how they did it.
Enter the new world – with increased competition, a faster rate of change, flattened structures and decentralised locations there simply was not enough time for decisions to be made at the top whilst effectively meeting the needs of the business on a day to day basis. The next logical choice was the decentralisation of decision making – it makes sense, doesn’t it?
At least it would have made sense had the decentralisation of decision making been decentralised in a smart and trusting way and had it happened in conjunction with the de-mystifying of the decision making process.
Decision making is one of the major blockages that we see in most groups that we work with. All in all, decision making has become complex, scary and risky – we think it’s time to demystify it.
Many of the blockages that we see come from three basic areas
- Lack of skill
- Lack of confidence
- Lack of authority
Good decision making can only happen if you have the authority to decide, the confidence and freedom to make an unbiased decision and the skills to make that decision effectively.
It should all start with the end in mind…great decisions have to start by having a really clear picture of what you are trying to accomplish. If more than one person is making the decision together, then they must have a shared view of the end in mind.
Next would be to collect as much information as you can get your hands on – to understand the detail of the decisions you are making so that whatever decision you make, it will be based on the best possible information.
Once you have all available information, it is important to weigh that information, use techniques to measure the information, work out where your concept could all go wrong and get creative about preventing those things from happening (including working out what your exit strategy would be if your decision led to unforeseen consequences).
Finally you must explain why the decision has been made, as a lack of understanding from the powers that be as well as the people that the decision impacts, could be the very thing that derails your decision.
And remember to celebrate your successes and failures, as long as your thinking was sound and everyone learnt along the way, then your decisions will lead to better outcomes. See, no mystery!
Wade
Hi Lisa. Great post! I wholeheartedly agree. I love the ‘start with the end in mind’ focus. In my opinion, decision making it not hard at all; what is hard is working out exactly what we need to accomplish. Unfortunately, when confronted with a particular problem, our immediate response is ‘what are we going to do?’. This question (called question 1) will only lead us to the ‘means’. Dutch Leonard and Mark Moore (Harvard Business School) suggest that we need to start with question zero; ‘what are we trying to accomplish?’. Once we have a shared understanding of exactly what we are supposed to be accomplishing, both the process of decision making and the accountability that follows are comparitively easy.
Lisa
Hi Wade – I love question 0 and I think it applies not only to decision making but to just about everything we do – question 0 is our destination and acts as a guide whether we are dreaming, designing, deciding or doing. Get started with the end in mind, I love it!
Adam
Hi Wade. Agree completely with your comments. I often see this happen where question 1 is asked (what are do we need to do / what are we going to do), leading to question 2 (what do we need to do it / what can so-and-so do) and off everyone goes without having a clear and shared answer to question 3 (what are we actually trying to achieve). Instead everyone is left with their own version of what the team or organisation is trying to achieve and what it might look like. And while everyone no doubt has the best of intentions the fact that resources are being used to achieve alternate versions of a vision means that a shared end vision is never reached.
Alternatively, I believe that if the time is taken to ensure a shared vision is clearly understood upfront among all involved (i.e, question zero) then the challenge of allowing effective decision making down the line is in a lot of ways overcome as everyone has the same version of the end game in mind when making those decisions. Sure, there may be some small deviations along the way but on the whole the team or organisation will be moving much faster and more confidently towards that end goal.
Lisa
Hi Adam, thanks for your thoughts – this is exactly what we wanted from the blog – not just us putting stuff out there, but everyone contributing their thoughts and building on each others’ ideas. I really agree that if everyone has got a picture of question 0 (and are on the same page) then there is no issue with decentralising decision making. At Minds at Work we make many decisions for each other because we are clear on what we value and what we are trying to accomplish – this includes making committments for each other, shaping the direction of our company, taking on new clients and more. It certainly makes our business easier to manage and helps us be nimble and flexible.