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Shorts: Making The Decision Process Easier
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Andrea Corney
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Feb 28, 2002 11:59 PST
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Welcome to the February 2002 issue of Management Shorts
Written by Andrea Corney (ACor-@acorn-od.com)
Published by Acorn Consulting (www.acorn-od.com)
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IN THIS ISSUE
1. WELCOME NOTES: Updated Web Site
2. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Deciding How to Decide
3. FOR THOSE WHO WANT MORE: Source Material
4. GETTING STARTED: Pick A Decision
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1. WELCOME NOTES: Updated Web Site
I'm pleased to announce that my updated web site is now live! I've expanded
my service descriptions to give you a more concrete picture of how I work and
the practical, results-oriented nature of my services. I've also added
detailed case studies - all with a focus on practical solutions for helping
management teams get traction on the critical issues. The case studies can
be a useful tool for helping your own team talk about where and how it may be
getting off track. To go straight to the case studies, point your browser
to: http://www.acorn-od.com/case_studies.html
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2. MANAGEMENT SHORT: Deciding How to Decide
A big source of managerial churn is lack of clarity around the decision
process. The biggest source of confusion is the "team decision". Does this
mean that the boss wants lots of input and discussion before deciding or does
it mean that a decision isn't made until everyone agrees? Either approach
can be effective, the problem is that the group is usually not clear on which
one it is. Every one in the room will make their own assumption and those
assumptions rarely all match up. That clash of assumptions makes the process
at best painful and at worst destructive to the team's productivity and
effectiveness.
Almost every team that I work with struggles with decision making. This
newsletter outlines a simple decision making model that is guaranteed to
reduce the time spent spinning on decisions.
THE "META-DECISION" OF HOW TO DECIDE
I know this sounds hopelessly academic, but I promise it is quite practical
and useful! The "Meta-Decision" is 3 simple questions that you as the team
leader have to answer very clearly for your team:
1. Who owns the decision?
One person has to be responsible for making the decision or facilitating the
group that makes the decision. This person is responsible for driving the
issue to closure. It may be you or you may delegate this responsibility.
Communicate this clearly.
2. Who else will participate or have input?
You may own a decision, but if you don't have all the relevant expertise or
information, you may want to include other people. Most people want to have
input, but would rather be told that they won't have input than to waste time
voicing opinions that are ignored. Again, being clear is the key.
3. Which of the 4 decision modes will be used?
This is where the most confusion occurs. Getting input from the team is
different from letting the team make the decision, but most leaders never
make it clear which one they are doing.
THE 4 DECISION MODES
This is the heart of the meta-decision of how to decide. Sharing this
language with your team will make it easy to set clear expectations.
A. Autonomous
You decide without consulting others. You might ask for some data, but don't
ask others for their thoughts on defining the problem or generating a
solution.
B. Consultation
You share the problem with others, either individually or in a group, asking
for ideas and suggestions. Then you decide. Your decision may or may not
reflect the suggestions made by others.
C. Consensus
You share the problem with the group and facilitate a group discussion. The
group generates and evaluates alternatives and attempts to reach agreement on
one solution.
D. Delegation
You pass the decision off to someone on your team and let them decide.
WHAT WE MEAN BY "CONSENSUS"
The word "consensus" gets tossed around all the time but rarely means the
same thing to everyone on the room. For the purposes of this model,
"consensus" means: Finding a proposal acceptable enough that all members can
live with AND support it.
Consensus is NOT:
* A unanimous vote
* Everyone's first choice or priority
* A majority vote
* Everyone totally satisfied
Consensus requires:
* More time to make the decision (but often less time to implement)
* Active participation of all group members
* Skills in communicating, listening, conflict resolution, and facilitation
of open discussion
* Creative thinking
* Open-mindedness
* Giving up a lot of oneself; meeting the needs of the organization and of
other individuals must be as important as meeting your own needs.
Consensus takes more time and more energy than the other processes and should
only be used for important issues. Don't use up group energy on the
unimportant.
CHOOSING A DECISION MODE
All 4 decision modes can be appropriate at different times. The most
effective leaders have the flexibility to use all 4 and the judgement to know
when to use each one. There are no hard and fast rules about when to use
each mode, but there are a few useful factors to consider.
1. The Importance of the Decision
How important is it to have a high quality decision? If it is very
important, choose a process that incorporates available information and
collaborative thinking. Unless one person possesses superior expertise, a
group discussion will usually lead to a better decision.
2. Complexity of the Decision
The more complex the issue, the more you need others to think it through with
you. A range of perspectives will ensure that you aren't missing something
important.
3. Information & Expertise
Do you have adequate information? Do you know what information is needed?
Do you know where to find that information? Do you have expertise in this
area? Who else has relevant expertise?
If you don't have adequate information or expertise, it can be very risky to
make an autonomous decision.
4. Buy-In
Do you need group acceptance for effective implementation? Will an
autonomous decision be accepted? The more you need the commitment and energy
of others to implement, the more you need to involve them in making the
decision. Note that involvement doesn't always mean that you have to use
consensus - consultation will be just fine in some circumstances. The other
benefit of involving others in the decision is that challenges to effective
execution can be identified early and resolved before they become a big
headache.
5. Involvement of Those Impacted
Who will be significantly affected by the decision? Who represents the
interests of affected constituencies? Ignoring these questions could come
back to bite you in the implementation stage.
6. Shared Goals & Conflicts of Interest
Do others share your goals? Would they make decisions consistent with your
goals for the organization? Do others have interests that conflict with the
interests of the organization?
Building shared goals and values makes consensus and delegation possible. If
you find that you rarely use these decision modes, you may need to put more
energy into building and communicating a shared understanding of where the
group is going and how you will get there.
7. Time Constraints
What is the appropriate balance of time constraints versus the goal of broad
participation? How quickly is a decision needed? How much time do people
have to devote to the issue? Is it important enough to take time away from
other work? Considering time constraints includes time needed for
implementation. Consensus or consultation may be worthwhile if they will
reduce implementation time.
Taking all these factors into account we come up with some guidelines for
when to use each decision mode.
Autonomous
* You have sufficient expertise and information
* You have private information that can't be shared
* Time is very short
* You have made up your mind and won't be moved
* The problem is trivial
Consultation
* It is within one person's area to implement
* The problem is of intermediate importance
* You want to avoid major errors
* The team is not (yet) working well
Consensus
* The problem is important and complex
* No one is the expert; members together have the expertise
* A high quality solution is needed
Delegation
* There is one clear expert
* The problem is not that important
* It would be a developmental task
* You and the team can live with the solution
The purpose of this decision model is to give you a language and framework
that you can use to be clear with your team about how a decision is being
made. You don't have to pick the perfect mode for each decision to be
effective. You do need to pick a mode, communicate it clearly and then stick
to it. That's all it takes to save you and your team a lot of time and
aggravation.
A FEW LAST WORDS ON CLEANING UP THE DECISION PROCESS
Many managers trip themselves up at either end of the spectrum - they either
make all the decisions themselves, leaving their team feeling disenfranchised
and demotivated -- or they think they are supposed to make every decision by
consensus and bring the group to a halt with endless meetings.
As frustrating as these two patterns are to a team, the worst pattern is the
manager who says consensus, but really means consultation. If you really
mean consultation, say so - no apology needed.
The consultation mode is often appropriate and effective, but If you find
that you NEVER use the consensus mode, this may be a warning sign of one of 3
problems: (1) You have a weak team that isn't capable of handling important
decisions; (2) You aren't bringing the truly critical issues to the team; or
(3) You're holding the organization back with an overly controlling style.
In today's competitive environment, any of these problems can be a big
stumbling block to success. If thinking through this model helps you
identify one of these underlying issues, you've already made a huge leap forwa
rd!
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3. FOR THOSE WHO WANT MORE: Source Material
This newsletter is built around some classic work on teams. If you want to
learn more you can go to the source.
"Leadership & Decision Making"
by Victor H. Vroom and Philip W. Yetton
This is the original model of the 4 decision modes. A classic, but hard to
find. Used copies are sometimes available through Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0822952653/acornconsulti-20
"Power Up: Transforming Organizations Through Shared Leadership" by David
Bradford and Allan Cohen
I think of this as the "tough love" book of team building with its focus on
getting real work done and confronting the most difficult issues head on. A
key focus of the book is on the power of consensus decision making, when to
use it and how to create the conditions under which consensus decision making
will work.
Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471121223/acornconsulti-20
My first newsletter (May 2001) outlined a very simple tool called the Con
sensus Scale. When you want to use the consensus mode, this tool can help
bring order out of the chaos and get to closure. To read that issue, go to:
www.topica.com/lists/shorts/read/message.html?mid=1602861581&sort=d&start=0
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4. GETTING STARTED: Pick A Decision
Look at the agenda for your next team meeting. Are you clear on the desired
outcome for each item? (i.e. decision, sharing information, generate ideas,
create a work plan) For the items that require a decision, which decision
mode do you want to use for each item? Share this newsletter with your team
so they will understand the language you are using to talk about decision
making. At the meeting start each agenda item by clarifying the desired
outcome, and, where the outcome is a decision, clarify which decision mode
you'll be using. At the end of the meeting, ask your team if these extra
steps were helpful.
Does that seem too easy? Well, easy can be good! You can also take this a
step further by asking your team to talk about how decisions are made.
Identify the range of decisions that you and the team are responsible for.
Break the team up into pairs and ask them to assign each item to the decision
mode they think is most appropriate. Then have the pairs share their lists
with each other. Areas of disagreement should lead to a very interesting
discussion! (Thanks to Prof. David Bradford for this simple, but powerful
exercise.)
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This decision model is one of my favorite tools for helping teams get
traction on the critical issues. For other practical approaches to getting
traction, download my free white paper "GETTING TRACTION: How Management
Teams Can Spend Less Time Spinning & More Time Getting Things Done". Point
your browser to:
http://www.acorn-od.com/download.html
Warm regards,
Andrea
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About Management Shorts
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Management Shorts is a free monthly newsletter on strategic planning,
leadership, management and teamwork. Each issue brings you a short and
practical tool or idea that you can put into practice immediately.
Copyright 2002, Acorn Consulting
Feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues. You may
reprint this newsletter in whole or quote with attribution to Andrea Corney
and Acorn Consulting.
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Acorn Consulting
"From Strategy to Execution: Helping Management Teams Get Traction on the
Critical Issues"
www.acorn-od.com
in-@acorn-od.com
(650) 329-8923
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