Team decision-making process

Listen to this quote: "Whenever our management team meets, I harden my heart and engage in the decision-making scuffle on every major issue. Although, we've always worked hard to build trust and cooperation, I've Can't remember how many concessions we made, how many roundabout ways we took, but nothing worked. Everyone has their own unique way of doing things, and I don't want to change. I do love my job, but the company makes decisions The way really breaks my heart."

Sound familiar? From the boardroom down to the average work team, team members find it difficult to work together on tough issues. Without the cooperation and encouragement they deserve, they are confronted with conflicting egoism and behavioral styles. There is a lack of commitment to each other, office politics are rampant, and personal differences seem difficult to reconcile.

Why does this happen? This is because most team members have all sorts of worries: they worry that their team won't succeed, that other team members have great ideas, and that their contributions won't be recognized by others. All in all, they worry about a lack of sufficient time, financial resources, and recognition (especially recognition), and worry about getting less than others. No one can think beyond their own schedule and way of doing things.

This problem is not insurmountable. There is a way for everyone to work together and make effective decisions - especially in times of adversity. The point is to work with hope, not with fear. Because of the desire to break through their own imposed limitations and lay the foundation for a successful ending. How to implement? Get rid of worry and push for richer, more actionable options. Hope to make the team work agile and support each other. This "smart team" enables team members to shift their focus from ineffective ways of "what we should do" to result-oriented ways of "how to achieve what we really want".

This method consists of 10 steps. Each step provides insight on an issue and sets the stage for the next step. All 10 steps taken together can quickly resolve specific issues.

Step 1: All Involvement

Tough issues are not just the responsibility of managers, they affect everyone in the organization, and everyone should contribute their opinions and share their experiences with others. But in fact such a scene did not appear. Instead, the pernicious thought of "not enough time to get everyone involved" prevails.

This rigid, narrow view prevents the team from thinking through important information. For example, a product development team rushing to meet a deadline might neglect to test a product with a typical customer; top management might launch a new service initiative without notifying the implementer.

A better participatory approach should be taken. By involving everyone and having them share experiences together, you gain something more important: You avoid making enemies. Not involving employees can easily damage trust and confidence.

For this step to work, you must involve the people who make the final decision, who are affected by it, and who actually execute it. You should also invite people who really have useful information. You must reassure participants that you will respect their opinions. Also, make sure that everyone who should be there is present at the meeting.

Step 2: Identify Common Hopes

Many teams don't know what really matters to them. By asking two questions like "what are your hopes" and "why are they important to you", you can change the dilemma.

Rick, the general manager of a technology company with $300 million in annual revenue, has less than six weeks to turn things around to meet annual goals set by his parent company. Typically, managers in Rick's position try to focus all of their team's efforts to accomplish company goals, noting that failure to do so will lead to the parent company's wrath—a worry-driven approach.

Instead, Rick followed the advice given in Step 2: He asked all team members to write down their hopes to discover what really matters to them and why. The results far exceeded his expectations. He records, "Not only did we discover many solutions to accomplish our annual goals, but we also discovered industry-changing ideas that could help us soar." Rick successfully unleashed the energy of his team members, and everyone enjoyed the results. joy.

To implement this step, you must ask all participants to write down their wishes on a piece of paper. Divide the two least acquaintances into a group and have them ask each other "why are your hopes so important to you" and record the answers, then share their hopes with the whole group to find common themes. Check that each member supports the wishes of the other members. Moderate discussions around your hopes, evaluate opportunities using a shared wish list, and track your team's progress.

Step 3: Find the real problem

One of the biggest pitfalls that often occurs when tackling tough issues is not finding the real problem. To discover the real problem, you have to practice reflective listening repeatedly, which requires focusing your attention.

Contractor Mark is under increasing pressure. "I was working on a $500,000 construction contract and we were over $100,000 because of my client Sam's erratic changes," he said, "and because he kept calling me with trivial things, I Can't be fully dedicated to work."

Since Sam talks too much, Mark can't listen anymore. Not surprisingly, it was because Sam felt that Mark wasn't listening to him that he kept stating it. Mark must break this vicious circle. After learning step 3, Mark asks Sam to tell him what he thinks, then he explains what Sam thinks and asks if Sam is right. It is precisely because of stating what Sam was thinking that Sam stopped calling Mark frequently. "Mark really understands me," he told a colleague.

Conclusive listening helps solve problems. When people have the opportunity to say what is on their mind and hear what they say, they are sometimes able to solve their own problems on their own.

To implement this step, you should focus not on solving the problem but on finding it. Ask all participants to express their thoughts and feelings in turn, without worrying about the ridicule of others. Instead of judging others, listen quietly without debating and proposing solutions. Put everyone's statements aside and ask the participants to express all the topics they heard. And just like that, the real problem will surface.

Step 4: List All Options

Before evaluating a particular solution, you must have all the options on the table for analysis. Sadly, however, many groups see only a handful of options. Some groups make hasty decisions after just considering an idea. Choices give you strength because they free you from the constraints of conventional thinking and unleash new energies.

This method of putting options on the table can go a long way. In general, team members typically focus on promoting their own ideas, attacking the ideas of others, or keeping potential solutions in mind to avoid conflict. These fear-based responses reduce the probability of finding creative solutions. Instead, participants must put aside their egoism and leave the door open to options and new possibilities.

For this step to work, new ideas must be incentivized. You should invite each member to present an option in turn, avoid debate and comment as much as possible, and stick to an open-ended brainstorming approach. List all available options worthy of further study.

Step 5: Gather the Right Information

The collection of ineffective information makes it difficult for many teams to tackle tough problems. Although they share common goals, they tend to be prone to factionalism. For example, when a product is struggling, top management often does something like this: dispatch some marketing people to gather information about customer needs, ask operations people to analyze the conditions under which the product is delivered, and direct finance people to analyze the numbers. This "departmental segmentation" mindset further enhances adversarial behavior.

To practice this step, you should consider how well each option relates to each of your wishes. Avoid factionalism and no special members. Diversification of membership should facilitate learning—for example, not all finance people in one group and all marketing people in another. Focus, but don't be exhaustive—just get enough information on how each option contributes to key hopes.

Be as accurate as possible, without generalizations or advice. If you interpret facts or promote conclusions, others will perceive you as biased, which can greatly reduce the credibility of the information you provide.

Step 6: Bring all issues to the table

Do your best to gather information, not debate. If your company is debating, you're wasting precious time and money. When problems arise between different teams, we usually point fingers and blame others. This exacerbates the problem. We should adopt a better process for solving tough problems, and we should say "no" to arguments!

Tim is a research and development manager. Guided by Step 6, Tim's team first learned about their shared hope. Next, they conducted a detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of various options. First, they show the negative side. Negative factors that members have already told are not repeated by other members. Also, they don't engage in any debate as to whether what someone's statement is really a negative factor. Then they discussed the positives using the same process. Why talk about the negatives first and then the positives? The answer is simple: it works better this way. When participants put all the negatives on the table, it is easier for them to think about the positives. The process itself is a success!

For this step to be implemented, shared hope should be the cornerstone of the assessment. First of all, you should have a clear understanding of the current situation of the selection plan, and then you can screen. Discuss the negative side of each option first. Tell all members to listen quietly and not to question and debate the words of others. Then state the positive aspects of each option.

Step 7: Write down options that contribute to shared hope

Many managers expect team members to be forthcoming with advice, but they themselves do not take the appropriate steps to obtain them. As a result, they don't know what other people's ideas work best, and team members aren't fully engaged. Step 7 is a powerful tool that can overcome the above problems and can help team members find the best solution to the problem.

To put this step into action, all final options must be written down and considered. Before you make your choice, you should review your shared hopes. Ask everyone to choose the option that best helps achieve the team's shared hope. Then, list all the other options that will help you achieve your goal, even if they may not be as effective as the first option. Use secret ballots - fold the paper on which team members have written their options, and record them together in a form.

Allow each member to evaluate options without collective deliberation or coercion. This practice gives decision-making power to every participant, whether he is the coy or the open-mouthed type.

Step 8: Find a Solution

Once the secret ballot has been implemented, it will take some time to count the votes. Be sure to speak with the results of the secret ballot.

The results of the polls can really lower the barriers to egoism. For example, on Tim's team, someone didn't have B as his first choice or a viable option, but after seeing the vote, he readily accepted the team's decision. Since the process is completely public, even if the member expresses a different point of view, he still won't lose face.

Step 8 shows you clear results while avoiding the arguments that other decision-making methods can create. Another advantage of step 8 is that it can be inclusive and absorb the characteristics of other options. In the above example, although the team agreed to make B as the first choice, they also decided to include some elements of Option C.

To implement this step, the solutions should be grouped together on the same table. Mark the first choice column and alternatives differently for each ballot.

Step 9: Look Ahead

Effective solutions often require mid-course fixes. So don't be surprised if you implement a solution and find that it has to be changed. In fact, you should prepare for this before implementing the program.

The R&D team members who agreed on option B in step 8 felt that their first option would work very smoothly for months or even years. However, after just two weeks of implementation, they found a roadblock to implementing the plan. The team quickly recovered from this setback as team members agreed on Option C as another viable alternative. This alternative has proven to be quite effective.

Decisions should be viewed as an evolving process rather than a specific outcome. Successful organizations are unafraid of change and remain motivated to learn.

To make this step work, you must be prepared to change direction. Key indicators of how the chosen solution works must be monitored. Consider whether alternatives could be more attractive. Estimate the life expectancy of your decisions, and review your choices halfway through the run.

Step 10: Keep it high

Success should be recognized. How can Tim's R&D team be able to sustain this constructive work? Although they have made a decision, what will happen in the future? This is something that no one could have predicted in advance. Can the team pull together and continue to follow this well-functioning process, or will it be reduced to constant bickering and disagreement? The team's efforts can be recognized and encouraged in the form of a party. At this party, they can demonstrate how decisions are made and effectively support the common hope.

Celebrations shouldn't be too time-consuming, nor should they be too expensive. But the important point is that you must provide some form of recognition to reward the team's efforts and provide continued support for future hope. Just as importantly, you must share your story with others.

In fact, an organization's core values are rooted in what employees say about it. Make sure that the story you tell not only reflects the outcome of the decision you are aiming to achieve, but also how the team worked together to achieve that goal.

To implement this step, you must spend considerable time realizing how your team's decisions strongly support your shared hope. The story must be focused on "us", not "me". Finally, enjoy the process to the fullest—celebrating not only the final result, but the milestones along the way!

This text is excerpted from How Great Decisions Are Made by Don Maruska with permission from publisher AMACOM, a division of the American Management Association, copyright 2004. Translated by Li Jian. The English version of the book is available from McGraw-Hiu Education (Asia) in Singapore.

Don Maruska serves as CEO of three Silicon Valley companies.