7 WAYS TO MAKE DECISIONS OTHERS SUPPORT

It doesn’t matter how decisive you are if your team doesn’t grab the rope and pull.

Worse yet, they might support you when you’re in the room, but drop the rope in disapproval when you’re gone.

The power of decisions is amplified by the number of people who support them.

Engagement:

People who feel left out, pull out.

Inclusion ignites engagement.

Engage others early and often.

Process versus decision:

Successful leaders distinguish between making decisions and the decision-making process. Even if you’re making the final decision, include others in the decision-making process.

Bad to worse:

Confirmation bias makes a rush to decision-making dangerous. In other words, once you’ve made a decision, you defend it, even if it’s a bad one.

7 ways to build buy-in:

1. Seek input – withhold judgement.
   1. Explore ways suggestions might work.
   2. Ask, ‘What brought this to mind?” When you hear a surprising perspective.
   3. When you disagree with someone ask, ‘What am I missing?’
2. Ask for different perspectives.
   1. How might a young person approach this? (Insert elder, man, woman, or new comer.)
   2. What does this look like from the front-line?
   3. How is this customer-centric?
3. Forget your title. Titles give inexperienced leaders the feeling that they’re smart when they’re dumb.
4. Keep your learning-hat on longer. Approach important decisions as a learner first and decision-maker second.
5. Answer ‘why’ and ‘what’ before digging into ‘how’.
   1. Why does this matter? Answer ‘why’ before determining ‘what’.
   2. What are we trying to solve?
   3. What’s going to be better?
   4. How will things be better?
   5. Who is impacted? How should they be involved?
6. Engage people in gathering data.
7. After making a decision, set a future date to explore what you have learned and where you might adapt.