Distributed decision-making without Anarchy
One of the key building blocks of New Era Organizations is distributed authority and the decision-making that goes with it. Together, the Autonomy of individual action is released that brings about both organization agility and a sense of personal accomplishment that comes when micromanagement is removed. However, pushing decision-making down into teams requires a new approach to decision-making that goes beyond explicit delegation of authority. It also requires more agility that is possible with a team consensus since that would only slow the process down as laggards are brought onboard. We need to understand how authority is delegated and team decision-making works.
Two approaches to team decision-making often encountered in pioneering organizations are consent (move forward if no one dissents) or advice (any decision can be made if advice from others is sought first). However, with such autonomy comes the potential (and fear) of anarchy without strong controls of authority in place. The mistaken impression is that distributed decision-making means all central controls are eliminated. The reality is that hard controls are eliminated but replaced with soft controls of operating principles being in tension.
Figure 1 shows the Principle of Autonomy in tension with the Principle of Purpose-alignment. Freedom of autonomy is limited by boundaries and attraction established with a clearly defined and understood Purpose Statement. Further, a Purpose Alignment Team (PaT) can easily be established to communicate the purpose, coach, and weave the network to bring about this purpose. That still leaves the enablement and encouragement of distributed decision-making, especially when transitioning away from a hierarchical structure that retained the power of authority high in the hierarchy. Figure 2 shows this door of enablement that is made possible with the Principles of Effectuation — establishing and nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset.
*** Your challenge ***
How can you speed up decision-making by giving people more autonomy through shifting from hard controls of delegated authority to distributed decision-making using operating principles in tension with each other?
Would you encourage the use of a consent decision process? Or, go full-on trust with an advice approach?
