Decision Making : Me and You

Step 1 (5 min):

The facilitator to explain that we will consider collectively the implications of decision making, but from an individual perspective (usually the manager's one as this sequence is often used as an awareness within teams starting their empowerement journey):

• Put 4 flipcharts on the ground within the room with numbers 1 to 4 on it, from left to right, in order to get a kind of continuum
• Explain that the "1" at the left corresponds to the zone where "I decide" ie. the final decision remains with me (individual empowerment)
• Explain that the "4" at the right end of the line corresponds to "The team decides", ie. the final decision remains collective (team empowerment)
• 
  

Step 2 (5 min):

• Tell everyone to think about the decisions they have made in the past 3 to 6 months or so in the course of their daily work (if asked, and only if asked if it is decisions at team level or at individual level, tell them that it is decisions they have made in the course of doing their job and point out that individual and team are mutually influenced by the decisions they make)
• Tell them to think of their usual most preferred position on the decision making continuum
• Tell them to go and stand on this position

Step 3 (depends on team size)

The facilitator to debrief as follows:

• Ask participants what they noticed
• Comment, using the preferred attachment among the 2 proposed, on the following 4 areas across the continuum from left to right:
  • Directive (1): You use the information that you already have to make the decision, without requiring any further input from your team. Information about the decision will be, potentially, provided afterwards to the team
  • Directive (2): You make your decision on your own but you committ to explain to the team why you took this decision and what are the consequences of it ("sell")
  • Participative / Consultative (3): You consult the team (individually or collectively) and ask for members' opinions, but you make the final decision.
  • Collaborative (4): Decision is collective (whatever the method: majority voting, consensus, consent, etc...)
• Deliver the following messages:
• Empowerment equally works for teams and for individual
• There is no better or worse method, it all comes down to what is delegated to who (an individual, the team, the manager), being explicitely (roles) or implicitely (trust based, decision close to information) expressed

Recommendations: member to interact with the team in a light and awareness mood, the aim is to get people thinking, not to get them knowing. This is not a teaching sequence, don't preach and it is ok to leave comments or questions open and unresolved