From the course: Management Tips

When to use team decision-making

From the course: Management Tips

When to use team decision-making

- So, you're the boss, and you're paid to make decisions, right? Sometimes, but very often you need to collaborate closely with your employees and make a team decision. Knowing with of these two options is appropriate is very important. Your default choice should be to consult with the team and hear their voice. The team needs to know they have appropriate input. However, it's funny, over the years we've fallen in love with a group approach to nearly everything. But every decision shouldn't be a group decision. Let's think about whether you should act on your own or work closely with the team. Sometimes you alone making a decision is appropriate, more specifically, any time there's a pressing deadline for an important issue, if the team is stalled, it's your job to make the call and push them forward. Also, in an emergency situation, you may be required to act immediately without any real conversation. It's also true that some decisions really are for managers, not employees, for example, certain personnel decisions, strategic planning, and so on. Having said all that, your default is to lean towards inclusion and get their input. There are a few conditions that make this particularly important. For instance, if the decision might increase workloads, the team will expect input. If a decision might change the nature of our tasks or processes, they will likely desire input. Here's an interesting one. If you, as the boss, recently made an unpopular decision or one that didn't work out very well, moving more towards inclusive decision making for a few months will go a long way towards establishing transparency and rebuilding trust. Another great time to remember the importance of team decision making is when you're the new boss. There's always a delicate process of them getting to know you and you getting to know them. The wise way to begin your tenure as boss is to start by erring towards inclusion and collaboration. That way, they can see you as a partner, not just the boss. Finally, using team decision making is vital when facing particularly large decisions that have clear resource implications. Let's say your department might merge with one or more other departments. Any time a decision might help or hurt your budget, especially compensation, it's smart to work with the team to understand their perspective. As a leader, you know every decision isn't a team based decision, even though, it makes sense most of the time. The next time you face the need to choose between going solo or consulting with the team, remember the conditions we just discussed. That way, on average, the team will view your decision making process as fair and productive.

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