How do you include others in your decision-making and build consensus?

Begin by understanding the challenge you want to address and the outcomes it will help enable. For example, if you're losing customers to competition, diving deeper into the issue and understanding how it impacts the business influences the next steps you need to make. It then becomes easy to identify what causes it, likely courses of action, and then.. the people you need to onboard.

Remember EMOTIONS! We all are emotional beings (with varying degrees) - it's extremely important to link the decision and its purpose to a human/ personal/ emotional level. Once we achieve this, motivation to achieve the goal will come naturally and will not have to be forced!

When I first stepped into leadership, I found decision-making to be a dance. It's a ballet of balance, blending diverse perspectives into a harmonious outcome. The first step? Clearly defining the rhythm of the decision. Is it a challenge we're tackling or an opportunity we're grabbing? One time, while orchestrating a critical decision, I discovered the power of clarity. It served as our choreography, guiding each move. Everyone felt included, their voices integral to our symphony of success. This dance of decision-making is indeed a beautiful aspect of leadership.

While it is vital to choose who to involve based on their expertise, experience, role, and influence, it's also crucial to consider the diversity of thoughts and opinions. Different backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints can provide a broad range of insights, leading to more innovative and comprehensive decisions. This approach can also improve the inclusivity and morale of the team.

Who and How is extremely vital to avoid fatigue! We (including teams) have limited energy - focusing on the most important, most influencing, and most impacted - is crucial to ensure that the effort is well-directed and not widely distributed.

The best leaders understand that to gain buy-in and influence action, they must take a 360-degree approach to gathering information. Here is a short list of where they collect their information: 1) Their direct-report team 2) Hold skip-level conversations 3) Talk with front-line employees 4) Outside perspectives from vendors, customers, and suppliers 5) Seek ideas from mentors, sponsors, or mastermind groups Once a leader has enough information, they can start to build a strategy that speaks to the hearts and minds of the people they lead.

You build consensus when you take the time to listen to a diverse group of stakeholders. This is so important because when you do this, the chances of everyone aligning are far greater.

Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus." This is my motto, and I have practiced it in different work situations, from big projects to 1-hour meeting. It is very essential to be sincere in making collaborative and healthy decision-making process. But not by compromising and avoiding debates or professional discussion. Rather by bringing teams together, and allowing balanced acceptance of different perspectives, giving space to consensus to evolve. So the key concern is not in the techniques but in the intention. Consensus building has to be an objective, not just an element in the check list. So its all about listening with real intention to make consensus happens.

Evaluation and synthesis of input should not only be a systematic process but should also leave room for intuition. Although data and systematic methods are valuable, some of the best decisions also involve a level of intuition that comes from experience and tacit knowledge. Balancing analytical methods with intuitive judgment can lead to better creative decision-making outcomes.

This is the most tricky and the turning point where you have to be very cautious when you puting the situation and wisdom into synthetic barometer to exchange your thoughts to go for a particular decision.

Leaders often get to a great decision after a lot of effort, but miss building consensus around it. Data storytelling is an invaluable tool to explain decisions with information, onboard crucial support, and make it easy to action. Data stories help communicate decisions better and convince stakeholders by establishing an emotional connection.

Explaining the decision is not only about gaining acceptance but also about creating ownership. When people understand the reasoning behind a decision, they are more likely to take ownership and contribute to its successful implementation. Communication should be designed not just to inform, but to engage and inspire positive and meaningful action.

Monitoring the decision's implementation is also an opportunity for ongoing learning and adaptation. As the decision unfolds, there might be unexpected circumstances or results that require adjustments to the original plan. Rather than seeing these as failures, they should be viewed as opportunities to learn, adapt, and improve. This flexibility ensures that the decision remains relevant and effective in the dynamic environment.

Call out clear action item and timelines. .

Kept with your vision and don't forget to put the multiple suggested solution into pros and cons funnel and use logical and rational both plus your past experiences and intuitions too use the best analysis tools to help you get best solution.

Disadvantages and Challenges of Consensus Decision-Making While consensus decision-making offers numerous advantages, it is not without its challenges and potential drawbacks. It is essential to be aware of these factors to ensure that the consensus decision-making process is effective and efficient. Time-Consuming Process Difficulty in Reaching Agreement Potential for Compromised Decisions Dominance of Strong Personalities