Making Decisions

We can think of the decision-making process as consisting of eight steps:

1. Setting the stage. You select participants and determine the approach you will take to reach a decision: will you aim for consensus or vote by majority? During the meetings, especially the earliest ones, you set the tone for the group by encouraging open dialogue and promoting healthy debate.

2. Recognize obstacles. Certain individual biases and group dynamics can be obstacles in the decision-making process. By predicting and recognizing these tendencies, you can take action to avoid them.

3. Framing the issue. A successful decision depends on a clear understanding of the issue at hand and its root cause(s).

4. Generating alternatives. After you’ve clarified the issue, you brainstorm and generate creative conflict to develop alternative courses of action and ways of proceeding.

5. Evaluate alternatives. Next, you assess the feasibility, risk, and ethical implications of each possible course of action.

6. Making a decision. You choose an alternative

7. Communicating the decision. You decide who should be notified of your decision, and communicate it effectively.

8. Implementing the decision. You determine what tasks will be required to put the decision into action, assign resources, and establish deadlines.

Throughout this eight-step process, you also continually assess your decision-making effectiveness and make changes as needed to improve it.

ACTION POINT: Use the eight step process to make effective decisions.