Quick and wise decisions! (part 1)

How do you make quick and wise decisions? How do you use the collective intelligence of your team?

Modern organisations run on knowledge workers and specialists, people who use their experience and expertise day in, day out to deliver quality. Each of them is a gem in their field. When you put these people around a table to make a decision together, the challenge is to integrate everyone’s know-how into a decision that reflects their shared intelligence. To do this, emotional intelligence is needed.

Starting points

Four aspects

Decisions are only effective when they are supported by the people who will carry them out. In Connecting Decision-Making, we pay attention to four aspects:

E = the “Effect” of the decision-making. The aim is for the decision to lead to the greatest possible impact.

Q = the “Quality” of the decision. For this reason, it is important to make the decision with people who have expertise on the subject.

R = “Resistance” works counterproductively once decisions have been made. That is why it is important, during the decision-making process, to reduce resistance as much as possible.

T = the “Time” needed to make a decision. The less time needed to make the decision, the better for the overall impact.

Choosing good enough

Striving for an ideal solution can be paralysing and slowing. The absence of research results or certain guarantees can delay and sometimes endlessly postpone decision-making. Effect and quality, from the perspective of Connecting Decision-Making, are more of a “journey toward” the result than the final result itself. The choice made right now is the best possible choice of this moment. The “good enough” principle is also the driving force behind natural processes. Life forms such as seeds and animals do not wait for the ideal moment to develop. As soon as conditions are “good enough,” they start growing and evolving, always looking for the best “good enough” conditions.

Steps in Connecting Decision-Making

1. Involve the right people
2. Clear objective and sharp starting question
3. Concrete proposals for decision
4. Attention to objections
5. Refining the proposals
6. Executing the decision

1. Make sure the people who can contribute to the quality of the decision are at the table. The quality of the decision is, after all, the result of the shared intelligence of the team making it. Example: to develop a prototype of a new smartphone, you need specialists who are up to date on the latest developments in screens, batteries, software, new user trends, wireless networks, photography capabilities, marketing… 2. The starting point for a powerful decision is a clear framework of mission and vision, and one meaningful starting question. The mission indicates the long-term objective; the vision explains from which principles the mission will be realised. The starting question is an operational question aimed at concretely working out a decision. A starting question begins with “How can we…?” or “How do we create a concept that…?” The first question tends more toward a process. The second aims more at a product. Sometimes it is wise to refine the starting question creatively with sub-questions. Example: “How do we ensure the new smartphone can function autonomously for longer? Sub-questions: 1) How do we make the battery more durable? 2) How do we reduce energy consumption? 3) How can we charge the smartphone in an alternative way?” 3. Once the starting question is clear, someone formulates a proposal for decision. To be useful for the decision-making, a proposal is formulated as concretely and realistically as possible, in positive language. Positive language means stating what you do want, not what you do not want. Example: “I propose we run a test by integrating solar cells on both the front and back so that charging is also possible without mains power.” 4. For each proposal, objections are probed. This is done with the question: “Does anyone have an objection?” If there is no objection, the proposal can be carried out. When executing a decision, it is important to be clear about:

• Who will ensure the decision is carried out.
• What will concretely happen.
• When the decision will be executed and can possibly be evaluated.
• How the decision will be carried out, with any further specification of details.

Example: “Jan gives the assignment to the research department to develop a number of test models with different types of solar cells. We can expect the test results by the end of June 2018.”

5. If there is an objection to the proposal, there is always a good reason for it. Experienced decision-makers express in needs or interests language what is missing. The other decision-makers are expected to empathise with the perspective of the person raising the objection. Example: the screen specialist says: “I have a concern. I wonder whether the solar cells might have a negative effect on screen quality.” This leads to the starting question being supplemented with: “How can we integrate solar cells without compromising screen quality?” 6. Someone then formulates an adjusted proposal for decision. This takes into account the underlying needs of the person who raised the objection. Example: “I propose we make a prototype with solar cells only on the back. And we can make a prototype with solar cells on both front and back. That way, we can later evaluate what is most innovative… Does anyone have an objection?”

Steps five and six are usually repeated a number of times. By listening empathically to each other and integrating the underlying needs behind the objections into improved proposals each time, a quality emerges that is the result of the shared intelligence of the decision-making team. This quality exceeds the individual capabilities of each team member. Usually, this way of deciding does not take more time than usual. The quality, on the other hand, rises remarkably!

Intermediate decisions are also decisions

Sometimes it is not possible to reach final decisions during a meeting. Sometimes certain information is missing to make a good decision. Still, it is good to close the meeting with an intermediate decision that serves as a stepping stone for the next meeting.

In a follow-up piece on Connecting Decision-Making, we explain how to make a group decision when there are multiple proposals to choose from.