🎙️ EP 44 : Decision-Making with a Coaching Mindset

So think about the following scenario: you have a team of seven people. A great new project comes along and you can only put three people on it. Now, all of your team members are somewhat qualified for it. There’s no clear cut decision to make.

Now what do you do in this moment as a coaching leader?

How can you approach this in a way that gets the job done (decision is made), develops people

AND maintains good vibes in your team?

This podcast and article will dive deeper into this challenge. We use a model from the great book ‘Crucial Conversations’ to share how a Coaching Leader would decide how much to include their team members in the decision.

In their book, they are sharing what they consider the 4 most common decision methods. We are going to use them as a backdrop in this article. We are also building on them. Lastly, we will talk about how we might chose the most effective approach.

1. Command

2. Consult

3. Vote

4. Consensus

Lets have a look at all 4 of them.

In this style, we are opening ourselves up to be influenced by our team members’ input. We are opening the door just a little bit. However, we do reserve the right to make the decision ourselves after all.

The pro? When done right, your team members will feel at least somewhat included and heard. They will feel they influenced the final decision you made, especially if you explain and share afterwards how people’s views influenced your decision.

The con? It’s easy to get it wrong. For example, you hear people out and then make a decision that relates in no obvious way to the inputs made by your team. In this case, the ‘consulting’ parties will feel a lack of humility present in the Leader.

When we put up a vote, an important thing happens: When you command or invite consultation, you still retain ownership of the final decision. When you put up the vote, you decide that the majority vote in the team will win, even if you personally disagree with the choice made by that majority. It is useful to use when efficiency is highly valued and when the nature of the topic makes it acceptable when a few people don’t agree.

The Pro? You trust the wisdom of your group and that has an immediate empowering effect. Empowerment typically leads to engagement and more ownership as well. ‘My opinion counts and can make a real difference.’

The Cons? It can backfire in situations and decisions that are highly emotionally charged. In these cases, there might be people in your team you would not accept the majority vote and will take it out on others.

In this style, you chose to discuss with your team on a topic until you have found a compromise that everyone can agree with. You are highly pricing and valuing individual and group ownership.

The Pro? This method can produce great decisions that last long, as everyone bought in. It also creates unity. It is useful for decisions where there is a bit of time to discuss, where stakes are high and where everyone’s unwavering support of the final outcome is essential.

The Con? The method typically takes the edge off individuals’ personal perfect solution. At the worst end, you can end up with a lowest common denominator that no one is happy with and people wished you would just picked someone’s solution, instead of a half-baked idea that gets nothing right and no one happy. It can be a great waste of time.

There are a number of questions you can ask to get there.

Firstly, here are few questions that the authors of ‘Crucial Conversations’ suggest:

1. Who cares about this decision? If no one does, you might as well tell them what to do and move on.

2. Who knows enough about this decision? If we have more people with good understanding of the situation, we benefit from inviting more participation.

3. Who MUST agree? If there are certain people, who’s buy-in you absolutely have to to get, then a directive/commanding approach will exclude and disengage them.

Then I would personally add the following two questions to help us chose:

4. How critical and time-sensitive is this decision? The less time, the more you might have to chose a more directing style.

5. How important is this decision in relation to the engagement of my team? If I involve my team, it is likely to create engagement. It is that simple.