Getting Decisions Made
Decision making on any team can be a difficult process, and managing a virtual team increases those challenges! More coordination and facilitation on the part of the team leader is required to ensure success in decision making in a virtual environment.
Consider the following decision-making styles that you might use depending on the situation:
| Decision Making Style |
Pros |
Cons |
Best Use |
|
Unanimous: there is one decision that everyone agrees with – happens automatically |
Fast and easy; everyone on team |
Sometimes everyone is willing to agree; and discussion was really needed |
Minor decisions to be made |
|
Expert or leader decides: decision is made by only the leader |
Fast and efficient; ideal if advice/input received from team first |
Not great for teams; does not display true team play – lacks buy in |
When clear expert on team and it is a minor decision |
|
Compromise: a negotiated approach when 2 or more options exist |
Enables for true teamwork and significant discussion |
May divide the group as compromising means everyone gives up something |
When the group is very polarized and, with options present, there is no clear agreement |
|
Multi-Voting: ranking of options to determine the best choice |
Objective and democratic approach; every participates |
Too often there is limited discussion and team members simply rank the options |
When there are many alternatives to choose from and criteria for choosing can be set |
|
Majority Vote: the majority carries the vote once options have been decided upon |
Fast approach, creates a clear decision |
Risk that team members vote based on emotions rather than what’s best for team |
When there are two distinct options and either one will be acceptable |
|
Consensus: analyzing of the problem and developing a solution all can agree to |
Collaborative, great to build strong teams, creates buy in and commitment to decision |
Time consuming; must be well facilitated |
When ideas and thoughts of whole team are needed to make the best decision; when teamwork is essential |
Take these best practice steps to effectively prepare for and lead decision making meetings:
- Prepare for any discussions around making decisions on the project by:
- Sending to all team members any relevant background information
- Asking for team members to prepare for discussion beforehand (e.g., by coming to the meeting with 2 – 3 ideas to resolve an issue.)
- Consider which decision making style you might use for the meeting based on the situation
- At the meeting, define the purpose of the discussion (solve a particular problem), discuss processes (use round robin techniques for virtual team meetings) and ground rules (listen to everyone’s ideas, build on other’s ideas, confirm understanding, etc.) and start the discussion with the question to be considered
- During the discussion, as the facilitator, take these steps to keep the discussion moving along:
- Clarify participants’ comments to ensure understanding
- Encourage participation by all members by reaching out specifically to quieter members of the team
- Summarize the discussion at regular intervals to ensure understanding among all team members
- Manage time effectively to ensure that you can meet the objectives of the discussion
- When the discussion has ended, and there is no new or relevant information be contributed, close the discussion and move the team toward making a decision.
Preparing ahead of time will reduce stress and anxiety over getting a decision made and help you achieve increased success in making the best decision to move forward.
This wraps up our series on increasing the success of your virtual project teams. Consider Abudi Consulting Group’s Virtual Project Teams program to assist you in applying best practices to manage virtual/remote project teams.
