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Each day brings with it a host of decisions to be made, and each person approaches those decisions differently. A new study by University of Illinois researchers found that these individual differences are associated with variation in specific brain networks.
Smart management knows that groupthink is not a good thing. And when considering that business strategy is often the topic at hand, it can even prove dangerous to a company’s long-term financial health.
Becoming a master at the Art of Decision-making cascades through everything you do. It’s not incremental growth in your knowledge, it’s exponential growth. Einstein described the power of compounding as the “eight wonder of the world” — and if you’ve ever crunched some numbers on a compound interest calculator you know how powerful compounding can be over time.
Like us, honeybees have essential criteria that a home must conform to such as size, volume, orientation, entry size and security, insulation characteristics, proximity to food and other features. The swarms that make bad decisions regularly perish within 12 months. So it’s a complex calculation with many trade-offs and compromises necessary, since there are very few perfect choices. It is very similar to any town having to evaluate a complex capital expense plan like a school or other facility.
I recently spoke to an executive who was concerned about the prospects of gaining organizational buy-in on a new process improvement initiative. Historically, decisions in her company have been made in an ad hoc manner and have been routinely impulsive; her company views decision-making as a social process that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship rather than a systematic process for building cross-functional buy-in.
Instead of establishing a collaborative process and environment, the company has promoted a “relationship economy” where decisions get made based on who you know and how well you navigate the organization. When networking and navigating become the way things get decided and get done, the process – or lack thereof – becomes more important than the decisions being made.
Being a Solo Decision-Maker
I believe that most decision-makers truly want to take the best course of action for their organization. In situations like the one mentioned above, the process of determining what is “best” is a lonely one. Decision-makers are left to rely on their own instincts, insights and knowledge.
Without the benefit of other perspectives, a solo decision-maker can be susceptible to their own blind spots and impulses. For this reason, important decisions should never be made without input from others. This is especially true when a decision-maker is relying on others to implement the decision. Experience has shown that team members are much more motivated and inspired when their leaders value their input in the decision-making process – and don’t just see them as decision implementers.
Leading from Behind
If you are making decisions for your organization as a solo artist, it may be time to embrace the “lead from behind” management style. To do so, you will need to withdraw from being the center of decision-making, which will empower and inspire others to become vested in the business’ goals and outcomes. This shift will unleash the entrepreneurial spirit in your team members, and innovation will flourish.
By loosening your grip on the reigns, your team members will have more freedom, take more chances, and learn from their mistakes. This learning and growing will benefit the organization in the long run; your future leaders will be consistently groomed and readied for managerial success.
Destroying the Myths
Some will suggest that leading from behind isn’t practical in their situation or organization. Here are the most common reasons (i.e., myths) that I hear and how I destroy them:
Not true. The hidden time and cost associated with having a “relationship economy” for decision-making far exceeds that of having a well-defined and organized group decision-making process. A facilitated group decision-making process ensures that: 1) the right information is available at the right time; 2) resources are allocated to implement the decision, and 3) decisions are communicated to those that need to know in a timely manner.
Not true. Leaders are hired to provide leadership. Leaders are responsible for ensuring that good decisions get made, and that the organization succeeds. According to FranklinCovey, there are 4 roles that leaders play. They are: inspire trust, create vision, execute strategy, and coach potential. Interestingly, they say the way to execute strategy is to “Consistently achieve results with and through others using disciplined processes.”
Not true. New group decision support tools, such as Definitive Pro™, enable stakeholders to participate in a decision at any time, from anywhere, and using any device. There is no reason to delay your decision-making due to distributed and mobile workforces.
Not true. Consensus is not about averaging everyone’s inputs, it’s about having a collaborative, consistent, and transparent process. A collaborative process seeks and values the input from all stakeholders. A consistent process accurately evaluates all feasible alternatives and is understood by the organization. A transparent process is monitored, controlled and managed to ensure higher process performance and increases the likelihood of successful completion. As Steve Jobs has said: “Great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”
Not true. A group that is properly organized and formed (and perhaps chartered) to make decisions will have authority from its sponsor, defined roles and responsibilities, and rules of engagement. There is a great deal of accountability when the decision-making process is formalized, and very little when decision-making is product of the “relationship economy.”
The Advantages of Group Decision-Making
When decision-making becomes a team sport, organizations realize many benefits, to include:
If you’ve never thought of decision-making as a team sport, maybe it’s time to lead from behind.
© 2018 Definitive Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved.
John Sammarco has thirty-five years of experience leading, managing, and consulting to top public and private sector organizations, and has over twenty years of experience in facilitating complex group decisions. John founded Definitive Business Solutions in 2003, which provides world-class group decision-making solutions to increase efficiency, boost ROI, and reduce risk associated with business and technology investments. In 2016, John developed Definitive Pro™, which helps groups build consensus and make multi-criteria decisions.
AI systems can identify a solution faster than the human brain, but how much of the decision-making process should be delegated to AI? Are there some decisions that should always be reserved for humans?
The American Psychiatric Association developed an evaluation framework that uses a four-stage hierarchical process model to help clinicians evaluate and make informed decisions regarding mental health smartphone apps, according to a column published in Psychiatric Service.
“A multi-criteria decision analysis model was developed based on six factors: water table, groundwater use, surface water use, hot spots of water use area, distance to river and soil permeability,” she said. “Fuzzy logic techniques were used to compute the probability of over-extraction in the study area.”
As we enter 2018, the opportunities to utilize AI to augment human capabilities have never been greater. But while dominating a game of chess is one thing, the bigger question remains: Has AI come far enough to be entrusted with far more important, life-and-death decisions?
The speed at which change is now manifesting itself is a real problem for boardrooms across the globe. As organizations struggle to keep up, they often fail to put a structure in place that allows for quick responses to market shifts in an effective and profitable way. Reluctance to change is threatening to become a pandemic that kills off a significant proportion of businesses that are thriving today.
