Who gets to make the decision? 

Have you ever paused to consider and define who holds the decision rights in your organization and within your team?

When I do strategic planning with organizations, one of the first questions I ask is:

Who has the decision rights?  The CEO alone? The management team? The board? The executive committee?

And it’s not just the big decisions, it’s the small ones too. Who has the decision rights, and are you willing to state that upfront?

I’ve seen it over and over. Defining decision rights in advance proactively lowers drama in teams. 

My favorite framework for defining Decision Rights is from @The Conscious Leadership Group. Decision rights are mapped on an x-axis (time) and y-axis (buy-in).

Decision Rights options are:

• Leader Decides

• Leader Decides with Input

• Subgroup Decides

• Subgroup Decides with Input

• Majority

• Consensus

• Alignment

This video is a great overview from Conscious Leadership Group about Decision Rights. {https://conscious.is/video/defining-decision-rights}

If you choose that the decision right is consensus or alignment, you also need a fallback decision right for where consensus is not achieved. That fallback could be any of the decision rights, such as Leader Decides with Input.

I’ve seen drama ensue and trust erode when a leader asks for input but doesn’t state that ultimately the decision is theirs. When someone on a leadership team, for example, gives their input and the leader makes a different decision, the person can get resentful or cynical that their input wasn’t followed, so why bother? However, when they know in advance that the leader is using the decision right “Leader Decides with Input,” that the leader is following that decision right by asking for and considering all input. Ultimately, it’s still the leader’s final call to make the decision. 

Taking the time to pause and define decision rights in advance of making a decision is one of the most useful tools to provide clarity and build trust within teams.

Applying Decision Rights in your Organization

While this is a relatively simple framework, it’s not always easy to apply in real-time, especially when the implications of any given decision personally impact you. It can be helpful to have a neutral facilitator walk your team through a few hours of defining decision rights for common decision points. 

That’s what I’m here to help you do. Reach out if you’d like support in going through a guided decision rights process. I’d love to help you bring clarity to your decision-making processes so that your energy fuels your creative, value-driving pursuits rather than just living through more repeating drama cycles.

For the next 2 weeks, I am offering 6 complimentary, no obligation, 15-minute laser coaching sessions just to my newsletter subscribers. Schedule your session through my Calendly link. 

Let’s talk decision rights!