To Go Fast and Make Decisions – BUILD TRUST FIRST

Have you ever heard of the term "conflict debt"? It's similar to "tech debt" but in the context of interpersonal and organizational relationships. Conflict debt is the sum of all the contentious issues that need to be addressed to move forward but instead remain undiscussed and unresolved. It can be as simple as withholding feedback or as profound as deferring a strategic decision.

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Just like tech debt, conflict debt is inevitable. However, the key is to maintain a healthy balance. The longer a conflict goes unresolved, the more interest is paid. This interest can manifest in various ways such as stress, sleepless nights, overwork, diluted resources, a slowed-down organization, and disengagement. Time won't make your team's problems disappear. Avoiding conflict only makes things worse. Conflict debt keeps piling up as team members withhold feedback, filter their true feelings, avoid addressing what everybody is thinking, or procrastinate when making tough decisions.

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One area that can significantly impact the maintenance of a healthy conflict-debt balance is decision-making. There are numerous decision-making processes, and different approaches work for different situations. Two crucial steps can reduce conflict debt during decision-making. They are building trust before the decision is made and making a timely decision.

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Don’t focus only on the making decision part

What I've noticed is that more leaders focus often on the step of making the decision, with an emphasis on speed and urgency. This usually happens when senior leaders are involved. By this time, it's assumed that the teams have spent a lot of time on the issue, and it has been escalated. Most senior leaders will act as if they're busy, moving from one escalation to another, and they must make all these decisions for all these escalations quickly. Sadly, that's where you know something is broken.

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Spend time on the Problem

The key is to take the time to understand the problem. Never assume the problem that the team is sharing is all there is to it. It never is. Building trust with the various involved members is essential to understand what they perceive as the problem and what they envision as the next steps, whether for solutions or whatever area the decision is needed for. A leader doesn't need to agree with everyone, but they need to ask questions, dive deep, and not rely solely on the bullets on a slide, not rely on just a few key people, a few voices, other senior leaders, or whoever has the most significant voice or can sound the most knowledgeable by using big words and jargon.

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Diving deep into the problem is crucial. In my experience, the content that the team brings to me for a decision is often not enough. If the decision can wait, I'll ask questions and send them back for answers. If the decision is timely, I'll start drawing diagrams and doing the system design with their inputs, drawing out the flow. It's surprising how many times the trouble is that the team hasn't drawn the problem space fully. They all see the problem in different pieces, like the seven blind men and the elephant. If you can help them draw it out fully, they'll see the problem better, and most times, they can align on a decision themselves and quickly. This process always helps build trust.

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It's also essential to note that this process doesn't take much time. A 30-minute whiteboard session can often solve even the most complex problems. Sometimes, the team may need to gather more data, which they can usually do in a day or two. Even for the most complex organizational problems, I have seen these steps take just a few days to a week, that’s it. However, at this point, everyone is working together to solve the same problem, and trust is being built by aligning on the problem. Then, the decision becomes fast and super easy.

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People

Another mistake that can arise is relying too heavily on a few key people. Everyone has a unique perspective, and as a leader of an organization, it's essential to see the problem in its entirety and not just what one leader or functional area perceives. If you as a leader rely too heavily on one person, you're not building trust between all leaders and all functional areas. Drawing out the problem forces people to stop talking and pay attention to the diagram, which helps those who wouldn't speak up to engage. It's not just about talking; I usually call out folks and give them time to share their thoughts.

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Dive Deep

Another area where I've seen issues is when leaders choose to stay high-level. They often use time as an excuse and choose to work through their senior leaders, trusting that the correct problem will come through them. They'll assume that the people they're working with have everyone's best interests at heart and aren't driven by self-interest.

Skip Levels

Many leaders will speak of transparency and transformation, but then they'll come in with the attitude that they know the answer and have done it before. They will select specific individuals and approaches. They might even comment about how they have solved the problem before and how it is so easy. Transformations and transparency take effort. A leader must go down into the organization and have one-on-ones at multiple skip levels. This is how you build trust and create mechanisms that enable you to verify. Trusting a few senior leaders and assuming they have the best interest of the entire organization is foolish. Assuming because a senior leader was not the right fit, then everyone reporting under them must not be the right fit either is the worst level of foolishness.

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Build Trust First

The key is always to build enough trust first, whether it's a small product design decision or a major organizational design decision. Take the time to understand the problem with the larger team, dive deep to hear from different voices, and use artifacts that bring equality to the members involved. This takes effort, but not much time. It takes commitment to be open, listen, meet people where they are, and not stay high-level or use time as an excuse.

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If a leader does this, the decision step becomes much easier and faster. You'll never have full alignment or all the data, and you'll never make the perfect decision. However, you'll have built enough trust before making the decision. Most individuals want to solve problems and make things happen. However, what holds them back is if they do not trust the leader, cannot connect with the decision, and do not feel they were heard. If their conflict debt is not reduced, it is very hard to move forward.

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However, when a leader puts real effort into building the needed trust first, what they will have is a much higher commitment from the organization and the team. They'll understand that you listened to enough people and were transparent. Most folks will trust that this must be the better decision, and they'll be more likely to join you and feel more confident. They'll feel that more conflict debt was addressed and reduced, and it's time to move forward, and teams will.

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So, do you build trust first before you decide? Do you put in the effort and time to build trust?

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Until next time, Cheers, Amit