All too often I’ve seen teams making incredibly important decisions with no thought into how they come to the decision. In this article, we’ll focus on decisions with a broad impact that should be carefully considered. These are the decisions that shape the course of your organization, that affect multiple teams or departments, or that involve significant resources or risks. We’ll compare different decision-making methods and introduce an innovative approach that could revolutionize your organization’s decision-making: consent-based decision-making.
Ready to unlock the potential of your team? Let’s dive in.
Understanding Different Decision-Making Methods
When it comes to making decisions within an organization, there are several methods you might consider. Below is a summary of different organizational decision-making methods that are focused on who makes the decision.
| Decision-Making Method | Method Summary | Ease of Implementation | Quality of Results | Speed of Decisions | Transformation Potential | Top Pro | Top Con |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hierarchical | Decisions made by individuals with authority | High | Low-High, varies wildly on individual | High | Moderate-High | Quick decisions, can be transformative | Success depends entirely on an individual who cannot know everything, very likely to neglect great ideas from others |
| Delegated Authority | Decisions made by individuals with delegated authority | Moderate | Moderate | High | Low | Engagement and improved perspective compared to hierarchical | Inconsistent and does not imply any level of collaboration, individuals are often not empowered to make meaningful changes |
| Majority Rule | Decisions made based on the majority’s preference | High | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Straightforward and democratic | Can marginalize minority voices |
| Consensus | Decisions made when all agree | Low | Moderate | Low | Low | Integrates diverse perspectives and promotes inclusivity | Can lead to decision paralysis or always making average decisions that don’t take any risk or truly transform |
| Consent | Decisions made when no one has a critical objection | Moderate | High | Moderate-High | High | Encourages innovation and experimentation, promotes inclusivity | Risk of misunderstanding the threshold for objections |
Depending on who you talk to or what you’re reading there are a myriad of other decision-making methods such as:
- Data-driven
- Participatory
- Consultative
- Holistic
- and many more!
All of these methods have nuances, but these are usually discussing different inputs. Sure, you can use data or solicit information from the entire company but when it comes time to move forward, who makes the call? What we’re concerned with is how a team of people make decisions.
Each Organization’s Decision-Making Journey
When working with start-ups and small companies it’s incredibly common to see hierarchical decision-making. And it’s not necessarily bad! It has a lot of advantages including it being incredibly easy to implement (it’s the default), decisions can be made quickly, and can be both high-quality and transformational. In these settings the people with authority also benefit from having complete or nearly completely context.
As the teams grow and the organization matures, however, people will feel disengaged, the leaders will become overwhelmed, or there will be changes in leadership that affect decision quality. It’s time to change how decisions are made.
If you were at a thoughtful organization you might have transformed into more decentralized teams and delegated authority decision-making. Other teams will transition to majority rule or consensus. As we can see from the table, these each have their own pros and cons. There is, however, another option leads to incredible outcomes that are also durable across the evolution of an organization: consent-based decision-making.
Making Decisions Based on Consent
In consensus decision-making, the aim is to find a decision that everyone wholeheartedly agrees with, often leading to endless debates and watered-down decisions. Consent-based decision-making, on the other hand, focuses on moving forward as long as no one has a critical objection. This doesn’t mean everyone must love the decision, but everyone should be able to live with it, thereby encouraging diverse perspectives and fostering a culture of experimentation. It’s about saying, “I can work with this” rather than “This is my ideal solution.” Imagine how this subtle shift could revolutionize your team’s decision-making speed and effectiveness!
But wait, what qualifies as a ‘critical objection’? It’s an objection that, if not addressed, would lead to a result that’s unacceptable. For example, if a decision could lead to a severe security vulnerability in your product, that would be a critical objection. An objection that’s based on personal preference, not so much.
The beauty of consent-based decision-making is that it balances speed with inclusivity. It ensures that decisions aren’t blocked by minor objections, while still giving everyone a say. It encourages diverse perspectives and fosters a culture of experimentation, both of which are critical in the fast-paced world of tech.
Implementing consent-based decision-making isn’t just about introducing a new process. It’s about fostering a culture of openness, respect, and innovation. It’s about empowering each team member to have a say, while also maintaining momentum. It’s not always easy, but the benefits can be profound.
Implementing Consent-Based Decisions
As with any change, starting small and gathering feedback is key. You might introduce consent-based decision-making within one team or for one type of decision first. Observe how it works, solicit feedback, and iterate on the process. The goal isn’t perfection, but continuous improvement.
Implementing consent-based decision-making within a team or organization can be a game-changer, but it requires a thoughtful approach. Here are some step-by-step instructions to guide you through this process:
1. Understand and Educate: Before implementing consent-based decision-making, make sure you and your team thoroughly understand what it means. Educate your team on the principles and processes of consent decision-making. Discuss the difference between consent and consensus and the benefits of the former.
2. Define ‘Critical Objection’: One of the main elements of consent-based decision-making is the idea of a “critical objection”. Define clearly what constitutes a critical objection in the context of your team or organization. This should be a concern that, if not addressed, would lead to an unacceptable outcome.
3. Introduce the Process in a Small Scale: Don’t go organization-wide from the beginning. Start with a small team or a specific project. This allows you to test the waters and make necessary adjustments before a full-scale implementation.
4. Facilitate Open Discussions: Encourage team members to openly discuss their ideas and objections to using consent-based decision-making. This will help you identify potential issues early and address them before they become major problems. Make sure everyone understands that all voices are valued and that objections are an important part of the process.
5. Make a Written Proposal: Once an issue or decision point has been identified, someone should make a proposal. This proposal should be clear, concise and directly address the issue at hand. The act of writing a proposal is almost as important as the decision-making process itself, do not allow people to verbally run through important decisions in meetings without having a written document to support it.
6. Seek Objections: Once a proposal is made, seek input from all members of the team. Remember, an objection isn’t a bad thing - it’s a tool to improve the decision and ensure it works for everyone.
7. Iterate on the Proposal: Based on the feedback received, iterate on the proposal. This may involve minor tweaks or a major overhaul, depending on the feedback. Repeat the process of seeking and addressing objections with each new version of the proposal. The number of iterations should reflect the gravity of the feedback. Too many iterations are a red flag that perhaps the process is becoming consensus-driven and not consent-based.
8. Make the Decision: Once there are no critical objections left, the decision is made. Remember, this doesn’t mean everyone thinks it’s the perfect decision, just that everyone can work with it. People can even think it’s the wrong decision, as long as their objection doesn’t qualify as a ‘critical objection.’ This is where concepts such as “disagree and commit” come into play. In fact, if there is a lack of disagreement, you should investigate as to whether everyone is fully engaged and whether you’re actually making impactful decisions.
9. Review and Learn: After a decision has been made and implemented, take time to review the process. How was the process of seeking and addressing objections? Was everyone’s voice heard? Use this feedback to refine your consent-based decision-making process.
10. Gradual Expansion: Once you’ve successfully implemented consent-based decision-making in a small team or project and refined the process based on feedback, you can begin to expand it to other areas of your organization.
Remember, the goal of consent-based decision-making isn’t just to make decisions, but to make sure everyone’s voice is heard and to foster a culture of inclusivity and respect. It may take some time to get used to, but the benefits for your team and organization can be immense.
Conclusion
In the end, the goal of decision-making isn’t just to make decisions. It’s to harness the collective intelligence of your team, to foster a sense of ownership and engagement, and to drive your organization towards its mission. Being thoughtful about improving team decisions is a core leverage point for leaders in any organization. Consent-based decision-making can be a powerful tool in achieving these outcomes. So why not give it a try? You might be surprised by the impact it can have.
Continuing the Conversation
The conversation shouldn’t stop here. Every situation is unique and I value your experiences. I invite you to reach out to me directly, for feedback on this article or to start a dialogue on how we can transform your challenges into opportunities.