Picking a decision-making approach

- So now you have a key decision to make. The question is how will you do it? Will you just decide the way you always have or will you consider your options? Now, let me be clear. I'm not talking about the decision itself, but the approach and the process you will use to reach that decision. There are three basic decision-making approaches that leaders can take. There are some variations but mostly there are three approaches. And in order to make a conscious choice rather than just following your habitual patterns, you've got to understand your options. The first is independent decision-making, sometimes called the directed decision. This is when you have all the information that you need. Then whatever you decide, the team will probably go along with. Maybe not everyone on the team even cares or is even involved. But mostly this is when it's urgent. We need to make a decision. We really shouldn't be waiting too long. Even though it's a key decision, we need to make a call. I mean, imagine if there were smoke in this studio right now. Someone needs to decide where we're going to get out. We don't need to have a meeting. Someone needs to make the call. Independent decision-making. The second option is collaborative decision-making. Now this can take many forms, but this is when you don't have as the leader or manager all of the information that you need and you know that. There's a shared problem. Well, we don't know everything we need to know. We want the group more involved. We need the group more involved and we have some time. That's when we might look to collaborative decision-making. And finally, there's consensus decision-making. You may have some experience with this more complex approach when the goal is shared by everyone. When everyone needs to be committed and accepting of the decision, we may need to consider consensus. This is when the leader gets out of the focus and we all, the whole team, puts the focus on the decision. The problem is likely shared by all of us. And trust me, this will take more time, so if urgency is in place, consensus probably isn't the best approach. Now, each of these approaches has a place based on a variety of factors. And now you know the basics. And as you follow through this course, we'll talk about the details of each of these approaches as well as how and when to use each of them successfully.