Decisions are the atoms of every organization. Every new product launched, every new service offered, every process made more efficient and reliable is a result of hundreds of decisions. Effective leaders view their worlds through this lens, rather than through the lens of hierarchies, org charts, or chains of command. To build high levels of trust, teamwork, and innovation, effective managers focus on clarifying decision-making responsibilities. (Note that I didn’t say “roles and responsibilities,” which is a common mistake.) Once you know the decision-making responsibilities, you’ve defined the role.
Effective leaders and managers are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to clarify decision-making authority. This means difficult conversations often need to occur. First of all, it means clarifying for people their precise decision-making role, which sometimes translates into less responsibility than they think they have.
Our research shows few leaders pay much attention to managing decisions. They don’t know the appropriate vocabulary—for example, they confuse collaboration with consensus. They fail to design decision processes with the right sequence of goal setting, data collection, input gathering, stakeholder engagement, and brainstorming. As a result, they fail to leverage themselves as leaders. Either they go too far or not far enough in empowering others. They fail to achieve the optimum balance of engagement and efficiency in making the decision.
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