“The worst business decision you can make is no decision. The needs are not going to go away. Waiting is what’s gotten us in the situation we’re in now.”

John Peace

After we leave a meeting, we frequently don’t understand what was decided and/or by whom. And sometimes, we’re not present in that meeting and someone tells us what was decided, what we need to do, and we still don’t understand the why and when.

So… often, the actual implementation of the decision taken doesn’t flow or materialize and we spend unnecessary time trying to figure out what is wrong and how to resolve it.

Organizations are networks of commitments, and when things don’t flow, the whole system suffers, including the customers.

How can we get out of this way of operating that only brings us more work, inter-personal conflicts, and frustration?

Who should we involve? How can we know people are committed? How can we improve the quality of the conversations and optimize the decision-making process?

In this chart you can see all the important factors to consider in the decision-making process:

But now, let me get to the point with a powerful question and a checklist that I give to all the teams I work with. As I ask them, I ask you to incorporate and practice this in every important meeting or decision-making coming up.

This solves at least 90% of the problems… if you put it into practice!

Powerful question to ask yourself:

What do I need to do to feel comfortable being explicit, direct, and upfront about the decision-making process and get everyone’s buy-in?

Make change happen:

Try this!

• When you are in a meeting and a decision needs to be made, ask before starting (and you will save tons of time afterwards!):
  • Who will decide this and by when?
  • How will we make this decision? How are we participating? (check the graph above on decision making and choose just one way to do it!)
  • Do we need to call in anyone who is critical to make this decision?

• And before you leave the meeting
  • Can someone summarize their understanding?
  • Who needs to do what and by when?

Adjust your schedule to this, no matter what, for one week, and let´s see what happens!

You can download and print here the checklist to take to your meetings.