Having worked with hundreds of influential leaders across many industries, author and team dynamics expert Bryan Whitefield suggests how best to make decisions collectively.
- Clarity of purpose
But Nike employees needed more than ‘Just do it’. They also needed to know what fulfilment of purpose looked like. That is where clear objectives setting drives success.
Whilst strong research evidence shows faster and better decision-making improves performance, there is more concrete and academically accepted research on the importance of setting clear goals.
- The right team
A motivated year six class can accomplish plenty. But they are not going to run a corporation. You need a motivated and talented team.
Talented teams have the right mix of skills, attitudes and creativity for the challenge ahead:
- Necessary skills are, of course, dependent on the challenge
- Attitudes relate directly to the extent of the individual’s alignment to the purpose of the team and the organisation
- Creativity thrives in the right environment.
Once you have a team with the right blend of the above, their job is simply to identify the gaps between what they have achieved and what they need to achieve. They need to build bridges in the optimum priority order – and get the traffic moving across them. The traffic could be data. Customers. Money. Whatever it is, it needs to flow across bridges built for the purpose.
Sometimes, a special type of bridge is needed – one that requires higher levels of creativity and experimentation. Talent alone will not necessarily build these types of bridges. A final ingredient is needed…
3. A strong sense of connection
The team needs to be in complete sync to build trust and to find a flow to their decision-making, irrespective of time zones or remote working. When there is trust, the team is more confident in taking risks with experimentation – and in moving fast.
Creating the level of connection for strong decision flow can be facilitated through simple decision process mapping so the team has a co-created mental model of their decision-making processes. Talented teams will also identify how to improve the process.
With a flow, team members know and understand who is making a decision – and how and when it is being made. They understand their role in supporting each decision as it is relevant to them. And they have worked out how to do so efficiently and effectively.”
