Decision-Making and Leadership

I’ve been reflecting on the decision-making processes leaders use on a daily basis. I am struck by how little leaders know about decision-making processes and their appropriate uses. Choosing the right process is as important as the decision itself because, without the correct process, the decision is more likely to be flawed.

?There are four distinct decision-making processes. Each is based on who has the power to make the decision.

?The first process is autocratic decision-making. President Harry Truman famously encapsulated this process in the phrase, “The buck stops here.” In autocratic decision-making, the leader makes the decision. This type of decision-making is excellent for technical or routine decisions where the risk of error is low and the probability of a good outcome is high. Unfortunately, too many leaders become hypnotized by their rank in the hierarchy and make autocratic decisions with the belief they know best. Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine shows the dangers of autocratic decision-making.

The second process is consultative decision-making. In this process, the leader has the ultimate responsibility to decide, but only makes a decision after receiving opinions and information from others. Consultative decision-making works well when the decision falls outside of the leader’s subject matter expertise and the leader has subordinates or consultants that can provide accurate and informed data. The danger in consultative decision-making is groupthink, a term coined by Irving Janis to describe a leader surrounded by followers reticent to offer contrarian perspectives. President John Kennedy suffer from groupthink when he approved the decision to invade Cuba in the Bay of Pigs fiasco. He learned from that mistake and consequently made much better decisions during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Most recently, I suspect that Putin and his inner circle suffer from malignant groupthink.

?The third process is democratic decision-making. Everyone is familiar with this process. A decision is debated within a group, a vote is taken, and the majority vote is the decision. Leaders usually will not engage in democratic decision-making unless it is a decision among peers because the power for the decision is vested in the group, not the individual. Democratic decision-making works when the minority can accept the decision of the majority and support it. If the minority cannot accept the decision, sabotage and passive-aggressive resistance might occur. A glaring example of the weakness of democratic decision-making can be seen in the “Stop the Steal” movement that Trump ginned up to overturn the 2020 presidential election. If the minority cannot accept loss, democratic decision-making will fail.

?The final process is consensus decision-making. Most people get consensus decision-making wrong, believing that there must be unanimity to reach consensus. Consensus decision-making originated with the Quakers, and they were leery of allowing a lone dissenter from stopping a decision. Thus, they crafted two principles of consensus decision-making. First, everyone in the group must have an opportunity to speak about the decision. When I conduct a consensus process, I make sure that all of the introverts in the room speak to the decision.

Second, no one in the group can state a principled objection to the decision. If someone objects to the decision, that person must articulate how the decision violates a personal or group value, rule, or governing principle. For example, if a group is deciding what color to paint the conference room, an objection based on personal taste is not a principled objection. If a principled objection is raised, the group continues to talk over the decision, looking for ways to overcome the objection.

?Consensus decision-making is often slow, which makes it a frustrating process for hard-charging, bottom-line-now leaders. However, when conducted properly, consensus decision-making results in group support of a well-thought-out decision.

?Think about what decision-making processes you use on a daily basis. Is the process appropriate to the decision and outcome? As a leader, are you facilitating the correct type of process with others involved in the process? Is the group supportive of the decision-making process you have chosen??As I teach my graduate students, you can rarely know whether you made the right decision ahead of time. However, you can control the decision-making process, and the process will control the outcome.