The decision-making conversation
This is the last article in a series on the four conversations of a leadership team. This week, a quick dive into decision-making conversations.
THE MOMENT TO DECIDE is sometimes a planned one — a decision to acquire a company, hire someone, fire someone, launch a campaign. In which case the challenge is to deliberate brilliantly and guard against inevitable human biases. But often the moments are much smaller and go unnoticed. They emerge whenever several options for action come up in conversation, and leaders must choose which to try out. The challenge is often to identify that there is a decision to make, so you can liberate energy to get things done.
WHAT SEPARATES GREAT FROM SO-SO
DECIDING COMES FROM the Latin decidere — meaning to “cut off” other options. Perhaps it’s the fear of killing options that explains the ambivalence we see among leaders about a function that is the most vital function of their office. The high performing teams we’ve seen tend to be very decisive, with a belief that it’s better to be wrong and course-correct quickly than to dither. But they also distinguish between irreversible decisions with major consequences (such as an acquisition) and reversible decisions with fewer consequences (such as launching a project). The former deserve slow deliberative processes, with objective criteria, good information, and a deep dive into “unintended consequences”. The latter should be quickly made, with an explicit ritual for follow-up.
A great decision-making conversation involves clarity about how the decision is made, and leads to a communication about the decision to everyone affected. The important thing is that the rationale is written out and shared vs simply conveyed in sidebar conversation.
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.
— W H Murray
TRY THIS WHEN COACHING YOUR TEAM IN A DECISION-MAKING CONVERSATION
YOUR ROLE HERE is to make the team aware of decisions that need to be made, and ensure clarity about the decision model (how it will be made, and who will make it).
1 | Look for opportunities to organize your team agenda around key decisions that need to be made — and ask leaders to bring good information and perspectives.
2 | In the moment, listen for uncertainty around choices or topics and ask: “What’s the decision we need to make?”
3 | Listen for a rush to a decision that will unravel as soon as it’s made. Ask: “What are the alternatives?”, “What are the unintended consequences?”, “Do we need to make a decision now?”, “Who needs to be on board?”, “What questions do we need to answer before we can make this?”
4 | Listen for data as a crutch. Most decisions will need to be made with only 70%-80% confidence. A great question to ask is, “What information would change our minds?”. Likely as not, that information is unavailable and you will need to make a bet.
5 | Look for procrastination — and urge imperfect action over feet-dragging. One handy turn of phrase: “Let’s make this a provisional decision until new information comes to light”.
6 | Listen to your gut, especially — as one executive told us — after you’ve made the decision.
TJALeadership is a leadership strategy firm. We help leaders lead better during big moments of change—consulting on their strategy, developing their leadership, and coaching their team.
