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The Decision-Making Process: 1. Identify the Situation:
Verify the situation – confirm what you think you know.
Identify all available resources – Check your PET (people, equipment, time)
Set priorities on decision times – Create an initial timetable – Backward plan!
2. View the situation from all angles using recona-senses.
View up close
View from others'' perspective.
View from a distance
Identify known danger areas
3. Set the stage
Keep the mission in mind – Stay focused
METT-T in effect (Mission, Enemy/Equipment, Time, Team-Terrain and weather; these are all elements that can affect or alter the plan during execution. Stay flexible and ready for change!)
Take time, use all that''s available. (Understand you must do the best with what you have to work with. If you have five minutes, use five minutes; if you have five hours, use all five hours.)
Keep urgency in mind – Move with purpose, not like pond water!
Keep past mistakes and learning in mind. 4. Make a decision
Choose the style of decision-making.
“I tell; you do.â€
“Here''s my decision, What are your critical concerns?â€
Majority rules – take a vote.
Consensus
Delegate
Communicate the decision. 5. Make a plan
Follow the Planning Sequence. 1. Mission Brief
2. Warning Order
3. Operations Order 6. Execute the Plan
Decision-Making Styles: range from very autocratic to very delegating, ranked from one to six below. All six styles of decision-making support effective leadership; the trick is to match the style to the given situation. Consider the four factors of leadership – the led, the leader, the situation, and the communication.
“I tell; you do†- dictation. the led often determine the need to use this. Lack of committed or experienced people, such as new hires. Rarely is it appropriate to ask a brand-new person to find her own way. Get them started by telling them what to do, where to do it, how to do it and where to go. In the case of mature team members, if a job is being done for the first time and you don''t have time to explain it, this method may be most effective. Also in an emergency, if your body language and vocabulary communicate the urgency and they know you don''t live in the “I tell; you do†mode, they will realize the best thing to do is to fall in behind you and trust that you have assessed your PET and acted accordingly. However, if you continually use the “I tell, you do†mode you can expect people to do only the bare minimum to get the job done. As a leader, all you will ever get is the sum of your own abilities, missing out on the sum of the abilities of your team. “Here is my decision, What are your critical concerns?†Perfect style when time is short but you have a little more time than a “I tell, you do†situation. You must have a group of the led who are at least moderately experienced at the task at hand, otherwise they won''t be able to express any critical concerns. “I haven''t made up my mind yet. I''d like your input†- If you already know what your decision is, don''t ask for input; ask for critical concerns. Don''t say “I''d like to get everybody''s input†while you have a hidden agenda, or you''ll stop getting the input you need when you really need it. Be mindful of higher headquarters making changes and not communicating that to your team, or they will feel that you are only giving them lip service. Majority Rules: Everyone gets an equal vote, fast by show of hands. But you risk 49 percent of the team feeling dissatisfied with the decision and thinking the majority went the wrong way. As a PL, what you can do is adjust what constitutes a majority. You say “I''ll support majority rules but I need 85 percent to be in agreement. If we don''t have 85 percent by (NLT), then we go back to one, two or three on the continuum, and I''ll make the call.†Communicate the ground rules and boundaries. Consensus: Many companies strive for consensus but trade harmony for results. People feel compelled to agree whether the idea on the table is worthwhile, just because harmony is so treasured. Consensus-building becomes a hunt for fool''s gold, frustrating and ineffectual. This is because the agreement means agreement with someone in charge and the compromise makes people feel as though they''ve lost ground instead of achieved a decision. Business organizations that consider a consensus process fundamental to their decision-making would probably not use words such as conciliation and compromise to describe their modus operandi. Most companies simply try to reach consensus at the wrong point in time. Many also overuse consensus because no one wants to be held solely responsible for the decision or risk conflict in a meeting. Consensus means 100% agree to support the decision even after they leave the meeting, no “hallway commandos†jumping into cubicles whispering “It''ll never work!†They don''t have to even like it; they just have to agree to support it, and the way to facilitate the process is as follows: * Establish a ground rule at the start of the meeting that silence equals consent; that rules forces everyone to either put up or shut up
* Everyone must have the opportunity to speak.
* Those who choose to participate must feel as though they are accurately understood (on the same ''BOW''). To do this, whoever is leading the meeting has to commit to paraphrasing any contributions that aren''t absolutely clear to the rest of the group – no exceptions and no assumptions. No “mutual mystificationâ€! * They must feel as if their ideas and contributions are seriously considered.
If all of these conditions are met for everyone in th meeting, then you can at lest hope to achieve consensus. However you might have to ask those whose ideas are passed, “Can you live with this idea instead?†Delegating – may be the fastest style of leadership decision-making but it isn''t always the most effective. Think of the 4 factors of leadership and always assess your PET. You can only delegate if you have the following: * Competent, experienced people who are motivated and committed.
* The equipment they need to carry out the mission
* Enough time to allow them to correct any mistakes they might make – enough time to BRAD (backup, regroup, assess the situation, and drive on.)
If you have motivated and committed people who don''t have all the skills needed for the particular job, but you do have the time to provide them with trainibng, you may want to delegate in that situation, too.
With these factors in mind, you can see that the challenge for a leader is growing your people from “I tell, you do†to conditions under which you delegate routinely. Delegating can be an ideal way to ensure that the job gets done right if your own skills are lacking in a subject area, or if your time is fully committed and you have qualified people around you.
Navigating Leadership: The North Stars In grooming your team to move through the decision-making styles on the continuum, from directive to participative to delegative, you will be pointing them toward certain beliefs, values and norms. I call these the North Stars because they guide the actions of individuals, groups and teams. They give direction, meaning and purpose to our personal and professional lives.
Individual beliefs and values are shaped by past experiences involving such things as family, school, work and social relationships. Leaders must understand the importance of nurturing and shaping beliefs and values in their team members because they are fundamental motivating factors. As a leader, you have the power to influence the beliefs, values, and norms of your team in three key ways: Set the example Recognize behavior that supports professional beliefs, values, and norms. Plan, execute, and assess individual and collective experiences and training.
As a leader you must respect your team members and earn their respect if you are to influence their beliefs, values and norms. Team members may respect your position, but they will base their genuine respect on your demonstrated character, knowledge and professional skills.
Beliefs: Assumptions or convictions you hold to be true about a person, concept or thing. People generally behave according to beliefs developed from such experiences as religion or the fundamentals upon which this country was established to recent encounters affecting personal perception of a particular person, concept or thing.
The beliefs of a leader directly impact the leadership climate, cohesion, discipline, training and effectiveness of a team.
Values: Attributes of the worth or importance of people, concepts, or things. Values influence behavior because they are used to decide between alternatives. People may place value on such things as truth, money, friendships, justice, human rights, or selflessness. Your personal values will influence your priorities Strong values are what you put first, defend most, and want least to give up Individual values can and will conflict at times.
Norms: The rules or laws normally based on agreed-on beliefs and values that members of a group follow to live in harmony. Norms can fall into one of two categories. Formal norms are official standards or laws that govern behavior (for example, traffic signals) Informal norms are unwritten rules or standards that govern the behavior of group members (for example, not smoking in front of a nonsmoking colleague).
Norms are clear-cut: They express how you do things. Rangers don''t have a norm unless they live by it, they don''t have a rule just to have a rule, policies are pertinent to behavior. This ideal separates Rangers from much of corporate America, but it is still possible to employ this ideal in certain situations.
Conflicting norms become a MODD. Negative informal norms can corrupt morale, and even make success impossible. There is no defense for double standards, something that tears at the very fabric of any team initiative, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you, the PL.
Informal norms can have very positive effects on an organization, too. In the Rangers many informal norms helped breathe life into the Creed and make the Ranger culture something really lived. As a leader you not only have the power to influence the beliefs, values and norms of your team, but you also must do it. You must consciously cultivate your team through personal example, as well as by formally and informally reinforcing behaviors that support professional beliefs, values and norms. Excerpt from the book "Rangers Lead the Way: The Army Rangers'' Guide to leading Your Organization Through Chaos" by Dean Hohl & Maryann Karinch
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