Collective Wisdom: How To Drive Decisions Together

Hi friends,

As I facilitate increasingly more leadership team retreats, learning to recognize what makes a group “light up” has become increasingly important to my role.

I’m constantly looking out for the following:

What engages them with their mission??

What makes them want to come together as a team?

What excites them and drives them to take ownership?

The answer is pretty interesting: people light up when they feel like they can take part in decision-making and that their input truly matters.?

I've seen it time and again—teams come to life when every member feels connected to their organization's mission.?

It’s astounding what happens when everyone has a say in shaping their path forward, and especially when they start with pretty diverse ideas.?

It sounds like a recipe for conflict, I know. So, what’s the big idea behind “participatory decision-making”?

Challenging Out-Of-Date Approaches

Old-school decision-making strategies only get your organization so far in an exponential age. I'm talking about traditional, hierarchical approaches where decisions are typically made higher up, without much input or collaboration from the broader team:

Top-down decisions…

Closed-door meetings…

Autocratic leadership...

...you get the gist.

Sure, things move forward, but can you guarantee that everyone's engaged?

Can you really say that you've come to the strongest, most strategic conclusion possible, given your team's full potential?

Do you truly think that in this increasingly interconnected and data-driven world, a few top executives' gut feelings can lead to better outcomes than the hivemind of an entire human system that comes together?

And do you genuinely believe that everyone's 100% on board?

Making Better Decisions Together

Contrast this with decision-making where EVERYBODY is involved. Where your whole team contributes ideas and perspectives, where suggestions are debated and challenged.

Where solutions result from collective intelligence—the concept that together, we’re smarter and more creative than any of us would be alone.?

(As a reminder, three elements are needed to unlock collective intelligence: conversational turn-taking, social perceptiveness, and diversity. Not to mention the bonus, science-baked case for more women, according to research by the Institute for Collective Intelligence.)

Imagine three departments collaborating, merging Marketing's creativity, Tech's expertise, and Sales' customer insights into a comprehensive, innovative new product.

Or frontline employees and management brainstorming together; their on-the-ground experiences and strategic views creating strategies that resonate closely with customers.

Picture product developers and customer service reps co-making decisions; their combined technical skills and user feedback yielding products that are advanced and user-centric.

We’re talking about sparking new innovations, gaining a leg up in the competitive world, and really pumping up a team's dedication and productivity.

No wonder teams “light up” when they’re all involved; no wonder they’re all on board.

How To Encourage Participatory Decision-Making

So, how can you, as a leader, effectively solicit input from your teams and drive decisions that set you apart from your competition?

Here are three tips:

1. Cultivate an Environment of Openness: Full participation starts with recognizing that the best ideas can come from any level within the organization. If you’re in charge, make it your priority to promote an atmosphere where speaking up is not just accepted but celebrated. In other words, encourage a culture where every voice is valued.?

2. Practice Active Listening: When you ask for input, make sure you listen. Active listening involves hearing, understanding, and considering the perspectives being shared. This builds trust and shows that you value your team's contributions.

3. Improve Your Ability to “Connect”: Involving People In Conversations is a “Connect” style behavior in the Sphere of Influence 360, an assessment we use in our Inclusive Strategizing sequences.? Collective intelligence peaks when there is equal participation, active listening, and adaptability during meetings—you can learn more about this style in action here.

Over to You

Should you think about incorporating participatory decision-making into your leadership style??

My opinion, as you can probably tell, is yes.?

That’s why I’d like to pose the following questions for you:

1. How can you create more opportunities for your team to contribute ideas and solutions? What about structured brainstorming sessions or regular open forums? What systems or situations can you create for team members to voice their thoughts freely?
2. What steps can you take to ensure every team member feels comfortable and encouraged to speak up? Hint: Think about your “quieter” team members and how you might give them particular opportunities to share their thoughts.
3. How might you adapt your leadership approach not just to seek but also act on the input from your team? What are some you might meaningfully integrate this feedback into your decision-making process so that people see their contributions take shape?

In my experience, building more engaged, innovative, and effective teams starts with making decisions that involve everyone involved in the vision.

How “participatory” are decisions in your organization? Do you feel like you want to make a change? If you have any questions or just want to share, shoot me a DM or leave a comment.

I’d really love to hear your thoughts.

Warmly,

Govert