On Monday we wrote about the benefits and value of healthy conflict. And we raised the real possibility of a stalemate. That is the inability to make a decision because all the arguments have merit and those arguing are fully committed to their position. Well, the business reality is – a decision must be made. In the absence of a decision all you have is a good discussion and a frustrated team who muse, “all we do is talk we never decide on anything.”
The most common type of decisions organizations face is on the direction or approach to take on a project or a sales strategy for a client. These are ongoing decisions that come up frequently: the day-to-day decisions. Because they are frequent, a decision making pattern emerges, and you want to be sure that the pattern that emerges reinforces teamwork, full participation, encourages and optimizes from healthy conflict.
So, the Do’s and Don’ts of breaking a stalemate:
1) Retire the “Umpire Approach”. That is – make the call yourself. Making the call immediately and solo, is demoralizing and kills morale. Do it often enough and you will start to hear “why bother, he/she will decide anyway – it doesn’t matter what I/we think…”
2) Practice the Law of Reciprocity. If you concede on an approach today, your teammate will concede on an approach tomorrow. This works best when the arguments are good on both sides, the outcome is unknowable at this point, and the consequences of being wrong are not a deal breaker to the project or initiative.
3) Do use a consensus strategy that asks the participants – can we live with this decision? The questions isn’t whether they like it or not (they do not have to concede their position). It’s about whether or not they can accept the decision and agree to move on to the next issue.
4) Determine who is willing to live with the consequences of their recommendation. That is “take the heat” if it doesn’t work out, deal with the customers, accept the loss of a sale and so forth. Ideas are great and they are reasonably plentiful, taking responsibility shows true commitment and belief. Remember that relationships and continued improvement trumps who is right and small failures, assuming lessons learned is the focus.
How you approach decision making on the day-to-day decisions begins to develop your culture – or “how work is done around here.” While the decision may seem or ultimately be trivial, the way you make it is not.
Copyright 2010 Kubica and LaForest
