Decision Making With Your People - When Not To

Wednesday 29 October, 2008

by Paul Phillips

People make decisions all the time in business. Sometimes these decisions are made by one person, sometimes by groups. Sometimes the line is a bit blurred. Both methods can be right depending on the circumstances.

The trick is to decide on the appropriate process first, and then get the best people involved in it. There is no point in allowing a group of people to influence a decision if they can not add value to the process. 
On the other hand, one person making a decision without input from the people with the knowledge is very risky.

One very big risk is to pretend you are making decisions with other people involved but have no process, so the exercise defaults to no decision at all or a decision based on the loudest, most influential or the last one to speak.
Let's look at a typical decision making process and where we may involve other people:

1. Defining the problem
   
   This is the stage when someone has to spend time defining exactly what it is that needs to be addressed and what the objective is. A good working definition of a problem is "a deviation from a standard", so working out "what should be happening?", and "what is happening?" is crucial. Having people involved in this can be useful if they can answer either of those two questions.
   
2. Analysis
   
   This is where data is collected and all the elements are examined to identify possible causes. This will often need the input of other people just to get the facts - even if they are not involved in the overall decision-making process.
   
3. Generating possible solutions
   
   This is the stage where involving others can really pay off. Once the facts are known, this is the time to get creative. The final decision can still be made by someone with the authority to but it will probably be a better quality decision if several options have been considered.
   
4. Selecting the best solution (decision time)
   
   Based on the data collected, and input from various stakeholders, the decision can be made by an individual or the group. If the analysis has been thorough the solution may be obvious and you will achieve a consensus decision. If it isn't, someone may need to make a choice.
   
   Having a group make a decision by voting is often the worst option. It may be democratic but may not give you the best outcome. However, one consideration is that you want as much ownership of the solution as possible to increase the likelihood that the implementation will work.
   
5. Implementation
   
   In most situations several people need to be involved in this stage and communication of the original problem and desired outcome is important so they can see the full picture and take ownership of the solution.
   
   A good tip is to consider the three 'A's when planning communication and implementation: whose Assistance and Authority will be needed and who, or what, else may be Affected?
   
6. Monitor and refine
   
   The job is not finished yet. The solution needs to be monitored based on the measures you establish and refinements or modifications need to be made. Everyone will need to be involved in this to make sure it works. If you have someone who has been disaffected at any stage of the process, they can make sure it doesn't work!

While this is not meant to be a detailed description of decision making, it is written to highlight the issue of when and how to bring others into the decision-making process. Often other people can add to the quality of a decision and often the opposite occurs if you are not sure how best to use their input.

Source:ceoonline.com