Deciding How to Decide
Here’s a truth bomb that I wish I had known in my first management gig when I was leading a team of 24 social workers: Employees just want to know if they’re influencing, deciding, or neither. They’re usually OK with whichever one it is – as long as they know up front and as long as there’s a pretty healthy balance between leaders deciding and employees having an actual voice in those decisions.
A study conducted by author John Izzo found what’s intuitively obvious: If you want your workers to take a more active role in your workplace culture, you need to listen to what they say. Mind blown, right?
His research showed that the number one reason employees don't take more initiative at work is that their leaders fail to get their input before making decisions. On top of that, sixty-four percent of the 675 professional workers who were polled said that the biggest problem in their workplace was "leaders making decisions without seeking input."
The bottom line is that people want to be heard and feel valued. When decisions are made without getting input from people, people tend to hold back their ideas and take less initiative to make improvements.
At the same time, in our practice, we’ve found that employees can get burned out, frustrated and resentful when leaders won’t make decisions on their own when they really ought to. Too much consensus building by a leader can have the effect of creating a less-than-optimal “group think” result, giving the more “powerful” team members too much control, and slowing decision-making and progress down to a snail’s pace.
So, how does one find the balance? In our signature leadership training workshop, Managing with Mind and Heart, we train managers in the art of choosing between six decision making options, using whichever style best fits the situation, with the goal being to use most of these styles and thereby find the balance between “leader decides” versus “group decides” (see our chart at the bottom of this article), and between “leader decides alone” versus “employees have input.”
For a deeper dive into how this model applies, check out our podcast episode #28 on decision making, or better yet, sign up for our Managing with Mind and Heart online public offering this spring or fall!
For now, here’s a brief overview of the six styles that you can start using in your workplace today:
Style 1: Decide and Tell
(Leader decides)
Here a leader makes a decision, then let’s everyone know. “I’ve hired this person.” “I’ve created a policy.” “The meeting is in conference room B.” “I’m creating a project work group.” “I’ve decided we need to improve our meetings”…you get the picture. There is nothing wrong with a manager making decisions! Asking for input every single time or handing off all your decisions to employees is not an effective leadership strategy for many reasons. However, making all the decisions this way will lead to resentment, apathy, less-than-optimal decisions and a lack of creativity.
Style 0: Decide then forget to tell.
Don’t do this, ok?
Style 2: Almost decide, seek input, then decide
(Leader decides, group influences)
This is a real-life, collaborative, legitimate decision-making option that comes in handy in so many situations. “I’m leaning toward hiring this person…what do you think?” “I’ve drafted a policy…please read it and give me your feedback, edits and opinions before I finalize it.”
Warning! Be truly honest when using this style. Beware of those sneaky Style 1 decisions dressed up to appear as a Style 2. If you’re not open to others’ feedback, don’t say you are – you will occasionally be found out, and the trust between you and your employees will take a hit.
Style 3: Seek input, then decide
(Leader decides, group influences)
Superficially similar to Style 2, but quite different in many ways. Like Style 2, you (the leader) are deciding. (This is not a consensus decision - stay tuned for Style 5.) Like Style 2, your team is providing input before you decide. But unlike Style 2, you are going into this decision with a “data collection first” mindset at the beginning of your decision-making process. “Let’s form an interview team, then after the interviews let me know what you think, and I’ll make the final decision.” “I need to create a policy. Let’s have a discussion about your ideas and opinions before I create it.” “I’m going to have a discussion with the manager of that other department to try to solve some of the challenges we’re having with them. Help me out by telling me what issues you’re seeing and what ideas you have for solutions.”
I know I’m not supposed to have a favorite, but when done well this one is my favorite. I like the balance of leadership decision-making with the input and influence of the group.
Of course, there’s much more we could add here. For example, how do you ask for input and actually get input? I bet you didn’t know that managers wait on average a total of 4 seconds after asking a question in a meeting before continuing to talk. “What do you all think about (fill in the blank)?” One…two…three…four… “Ok, well, let’s move on to our next item.” There are so many great strategies for truly engaging your team in providing valuable input before you make a decision, including the proper use of agendas, small group discussions, one-on-ones, written options, brainstorming sessions and more. (Again, check out our podcast!)
Style 4: Majority Vote
(Group decides)
This can come in handy for the “pepperoni or sausage” decisions, as well as decisions around events, the physical environment, dates and times, and much more. It’s generally quick and painless, as long as you’re not inappropriately using it for big-ticket super important issues. Also, every once in a while, this option can be really helpful when you’ve reached a Style 5 stalemate. (See what I did there? That’s called foreshadowing.)
Style 5: Consensus
(Group decides)
A very powerful, team-building decision-making option that you don’t want to overuse. But when you decide to use it (and use it skillfully) it can have powerfully positive results. “Now that we’ve interviewed three people, let’s decide together, using consensus, which person we will hire.” “Let’s together as a group decide how we would like to see our staff meetings organized and facilitated.”
I don’t have the space here to do this topic justice, but here are a few quick guidelines:
Everyone participates
We agree up front to all support the final decision (no badmouthing the decision later!)
We use a specific set of emotional IQ-based adaptive skills (listening, disagreeing with respect, clarifying, brainstorming, letting go, values-based sorting and more)
It’s hard, but it’s worth it.
Style 6: Delegate the Decision
(Others decide)
Is there an ad hoc work group that can take on this decision? Or a couple employees who have more knowledge or expertise than you do in this particular area? Should the team of people who interviewed the candidates be empowered to decide on their own? Your job in a Style 6 decision is to provide parameters, knowledge, and some guidance (if needed), and then to, well, get out of the way.
***
This decision-making model, while in some ways simple, is filled with nuances and micro-skills. Over the past two decades we have seen hundreds of leaders and their teams benefit from using this specific leadership skill, and I encourage you to dig deeper into finding the balance between these three options: you deciding, your group influencing, and your group deciding. The benefits are too many to list, but include better buy-in, creativity, flexibility, problem-solving, and trust and respect between employees and managers.
Decision making styles chart.JPG