We believe in our people. To drive our mission forward and continue making impact, we want to move fast. To move fast, people need to be able to make decisions without constantly seeking approval. To that end, we want to make areas of ownership and decision making clear.
Considerations When Making Decision
Nearly everybody in every position in the organization should be able to make every decision within their area of ownership on their own, but if it interacts with somebody else, then you have to make it together.
Determine if it is a 'What' or 'How' Decision
If a decision affects 'what' we are working towards (the goals we are trying to achieve), then you need to involve a board or committee because we make these decisions as a group. If you are proposing to change 'what' we are focusing on as a company, then it needs corporate board approval. If you are proposing to change 'what' we focus on as a program or department, then you need program committee approval.
If the decision affects 'how' we achieve our goal, it can probably be made by just yourself or a smaller group.
Identify Stakeholders
Make a list of stakeholders and their involvement or role:
Who does this decision impact?
Who has to perform the work after the decision is made?
Who can give valuable input?
Who must agree?
Who must the decision be communicated to afterwards?
Answering all of these questions will produce a list of people and their roles in the decision. When making the decision or consulting these groups, let them know of their role.
A Heuristic for Deciding on Level of Feedback
Is it reversible?
Most decisions are reversible, but some aren't. We want to move fast on reversible decisions and make them quickly. You won't ever have all the data you want, so make decisions early and get more data through experimenting.
Is it high magnitude?
Does it affect a lot of people? Is it going to drastically change revenue, our market, etc? Make these consequential decisions more carefully.
The matrix
Low Magnitude/Reversible
Just do it. Make it fast. Don't meet about it.
Example: Formatting of a newsletter, specific wording on a website, etc.
Low Magnitude/Irreversible
Create thoughtful policies and frameworks that make it easier to make these decisions quickly
Example: Offering a customer a refund.
High Magnitude/Reversible
Get about 70% of the data you feel like you want, and then just make the decision
Example: Launching a new product or service. Hiring people.
High Magnitude/Irreversible
Robust decision making. Usually consensus based decision making. Research and well thought out documentation.
Example: Major capital expenditures. Acquiring a business, social media posts reflecting our opinion on major events
Resolving Blockages
While some decisions can be made alone, many are made with other people.
Example, you might want to change some information we gather from our students, but it also requires a change in our web software. So now you and the person responsible for that software must agree on a path forward together as it affects both of your work.
Be Flexible
If this decision is reversible and not hugely consequential, try to enable other people. We are always iterating, so we will eventually get to the optimal endpoint if we are measuring our success correctly. Can the dissenter agree to support this decision to help the people doing the bulk of the work move quickly?
Documenting Disagreements
If you have several parties that disagree. Document it together. Can be a very short (1 page) document.
The problem to be solved and the goal of the solution
Options considered
Tradeoffs between the different options
Usually documenting these together will resolve the issue. If not, send it to your manager(s). They will work together to help decide.
Facilitating Decision Making
Ways to Make a Decision
These are common and useful ways to come to a decision and should be chosen based on the decision matrix above.
Expert member - someone with specific knowledge makes a decision
Example: Lawyers recommendations of a given issue
Decision by authority without discussion
Example: CEO, Staff, or Board make fast decision without input due to immediate risk
Decision by authority after discussion (also call consultation or advisory) - input gathered and reviewed, but ultimate decision is by identified authority
To increase transparency and equity around this type of decision:
Explicitly and widely share how people can provide input, provide a few options
Be transparent about how input will be used (will for sure be included vs. will be taken under consideration)
Offer a "member check" opportunity or a time where people who initially provided input can see the results and if they feel their input was included and understood
Share who has the final decision making power and a timeline for the decision if known
Majority control (also called democratic) - 50%+ vote for a specific decision
To make this more equitable, you can increasing threshold above 50%
Minority control - a small group of identified people make a final decision
Example: Board of Directors making decision about organization vision
Consensus - Everyone explicitly & enthusiastically agrees with a decision
Consent Based Voting - instead of every one completely agreeing, people can do thumbs up for completely agree, thumbs sideways for not fully happy with it, but will move forward with it, or thumbs down to stop the passage of the vote. One thumb down means no passage and the discussion must continue.
Methods of Gathering Decisions
When making a decision, be clear about the type of decision, who is the decision maker, and what the decision at hand is. Also make sure to provide a way for all people who are involved to provide their opinion. Consider these options for methods of decision making:
Anonymous survey (or non-anonymous)
Thumbs up/down/middle via video call
Go-around (each person gives one chance to give a vote)
Slack poll or emoji added to message
Slite decision/discussion/question function
Other software that allows asynchronous voting like Slite or Loomio