Week 5, 2021
The Advice Process: Distribute Authority, Aim for Consent, and Improve the System
Each week I share three ideas on how to make work better. And this week the topic is decision making and the process thereof.
Why am I writing about this? I’ve been thinking. How do you design a decision-making process that is (1) effective and (2) scales with the needs of the organization? Let’s explore.
1. Distribute Authority
Let’s address effectiveness first. Who should make the decision? Most organizations concentrate authority at the top. They argue that executives are best placed to make decisions because only they have access to the right information. And that’s true. But what they tend to forget is that this limitation of access is a choice. They can choose to share information more freely. And if and when they do, they can distribute authority and push decision-making to the frontlines.
For more on this, explore Open Book Management.
2. Ask for Consent
The closer you are to the action, the more likely it is that you’ll make the correct decision. That’s obvious. But what about efficiency? If everyone makes decisions, won’t everything simply devolve into chaos? No, not if you (1) hold the decision-maker accountable for outcomes and (2) ask that they seek advice and get consent from experts and affected parties. That last part is important. You’re aiming for consent, not consensus; the decision will go ahead as long as those consulted agree that it’s safe to try.
For something related, see Amazon’s Disagree and Commit
3. Improve the System
Last but not least: let’s acknowledge from the outset that you’re not going to get it right the first time around. A good decision-making process is more like a decision-making system — and systems change and adapt over time. It’ll take a while before your organization learns how to take initiative, who to consult and how to measure outcomes etc. And that’s OK. Try and fail, but don’t fail to try: use retrospectives and after-action reviews to continuously improve the system over time.
For more, read Equal Experts’ playbook.
I’m not making this up. The above ideas are inspired by the Advice Process developed by Dennis Bakke (former CEO of AES Corporation, now founder of Imagine Schools) and detailed in the book The Decision Maker: Unlock the Potential of Everyone in Your Organization, One Decision at a Time.
I use the word “inspired” because I’ve taken a few liberties in the above visualization. I’ve changed the words but stuck with the ideals, so to speak. The end result is a 5-step linear process that starts with an initiative and ends with a decision by way of input (round 1) and consent (round 2). Note the oversimplification, however: the process must fit within a system to continuously improve.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time: Make it matter.
