Decision Making — Three Tenets to Save You Time
Over the years I’ve noticed that I like to make collaborative decisions. I assume this comes from the desire to make everyone happy and feel like they belong. When I first took over supervision of a team, I wanted everyone to have input on everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G! I thought that this was the only way that I could get buy-in from the team and not have my leadership style look dictatorial. I later learned that this is a common trap for first-time supervisors.
One afternoon I was sitting alone having lunch when an older colleague sat down with me. I must have looked concerned because he immediately asked me what was wrong. I was probably a month or two into my foray as a first-time supervisor and struggling with a decision that I had to make about an upcoming project. My colleague listened to my dilemma and pointed at the problem immediately. I had been so concerned with consensus, that I had delayed the decision for weeks. I was struggling with a few staff members who wanted to implement the project via path A while another few staff members thought path B was the best. What should I do? I didn’t want to upset either group, but I needed to move forward.
At that point my colleague shared with me how he makes his decisions and, like many tenets, it fell into three baskets.
Decision 1: Consensus
The first tenet was one that I was altogether familiar with. This is democracy in action; this is my go-to style. This is when I sit everyone around the table and ask everyone to opine or vote on an option and I go with the majority. Oftentimes, these are the somewhat easy decisions that everyone is usually on the same page about anyway. What my colleague told me, however, was that this style is not one-size-fits-all. I need to be selective when I use this technique.
To use consensus, I need to be sure that I am going to consider their input. I cannot go into a meeting with my mind already made up, and then ask for my staff’s opinion. If, for some reason, the majority think of something different than I do and I don’t take that input into account, then I’m seen as disingenuous. This is a quick way to turn your staff reticent and unwilling to provide their opinions because they think that you don’t listen anyway.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen this happen. A director once held an all staff meeting and requested input from everyone on some upcoming decision. Someone voiced their opinion and there was a lot of agreement. Then someone else chimed in to support that opinion, followed by more support. A week after the meeting everyone noted that the director had decided something completely different. “He doesn’t even listen to us!” is what I heard my coworkers say. “He asks for our opinion, and then doesn’t consider it,” others argued. It seemed apparent to me that the director had placed himself in a difficult position.
After understanding my colleagues advice, I now use this technique sparingly. I would suggest that you do the same. This could be a good technique for deciding where to go to lunch with the team. “Should we go to Restaurant X or Restaurant Y?” If Restaurant X has more votes, that’s where you go. Another example would be when deciding when to schedule a meeting where you need the majority of staff to participate.
Decision 2: Give me information, then I decide
The second technique is when I ask my team for input, but I hold the final decision irregardless of how many staff members say one thing or the other. I may use this technique when I am already leaning one way on a decision, or I have additional information that I cannot share with them at the time. I find I use this technique more than the others. It allows you to get a sense of how staff will react to a decision, or accumulate more information that you may not have considered. Once you feel you have enough information, you communicate the decision and the discussion is over.
This tenet demonstrates two important qualities. First, that you are interested in your teams’ opinions and want to consider their thoughts when making decisions. Second, it shows your leadership qualities by being able to make a decision based on evidence and move forward without a lengthy process.
Decision 3: I decide
This tenet is about as clear cut as it gets. I make the call and that’s it. I would say this is the second most used tenet of the three. I find that I use this tenet when the decision is based on a moral judgement, best practice, or just plain experience. I also find this type of decision making comes up more frequently in one-on-one situations or when there is a short-term deadline.
For example, if a team member comes up to me and says that the new position that we are hiring for only has two qualified candidates and asks me what should be done. Instead of asking around to see what everyone thinks, I say that we need to fly the announcement again to get more applicants. Experience has told me that having only two applicants does not represent a good competitive pool. I provide my feedback and the discussion is done.
Another example was when an employee found an error on an invoice, noting that we had overcharged a client for a service. “Should we just let it go?” she asked me. Absolutely not. This was not a question I was going to ask around the office to see what others think. There is no reason to get input or look for consensus around a response. I want to treat the clients just as I would want to be treated, so the answer was simple: contact the client about the error and return the overpaid balance.
Let Your Staff Know
Once I felt comfortable with these three tenets of decision making, I used them for a year or two before I finally shared them with my team. I actually was giving advice to a staff member when I mentioned the three ways that I make decisions. She provided immediate feedback, saying that she thought the team would greatly benefit from knowing exactly how I make decisions.
Since then, I’ve found that it is best to let your staff know that you make these three types of decisions. You shouldn’t tell them each time it comes up which decision type you are making. However, in your early period with the new team, let them know that you make these three types of decisions and explain particular examples to which they can relate. I have found time and time again that the team appreciates the transparency and structure this provides them in decision making.
