How to decide what you don’t decide

Good Group Advice 

from Craig Freshley

Are you part of a group? I can help you with that! Lots of good stuff on group dynamics right here.

Sometimes you realize, part way through a meeting, that you simply won’t have time to make all the decisions that the group needs to make. How can you set the group up to make thoughtful, efficient decisions in the future? A typical strategy is to just schedule another meeting to continue talking and deciding. Here’s another strategy: Spend your remaining meeting time deciding how to decide.

Make a list of decision criteria. For example, “These decisions should result in more ______ , ideally within _____ months.” Or, “These decisions must not require us to add additional staff within the next year.”

Name the questions that you will ask in order to make the decisions. For example, if your group has to decide whether or not to take on a new program, the questions might be:

  1. Does it clearly address our mission?
  2. Do we have the current capacity to do it?
  3. How will doing the program impact our capacity?
  4. Who else might be able to do it, if not us?

The answers to your questions should help you apply the criteria you have established. You may also wish to establish responsible parties and timeframes for making certain decisions.

An added bonus: Deciding how to decide can help your group efficiently make decisions well beyond the ones on the table now. With a shared understanding of what the group is trying to achieve (or prevent) with each decision, you may find that you actually need to hold fewer decision making meetings. And when a meeting is required, you will have a solid framework for tackling a tough decision.

I made a short video about this, just after a decision making meeting on a Maine island. Watch it below or read the transcript and see related resources here.

For better meetings, less conflict, and more productivity in groups, explore the dozens of articles, videos, tips, and handouts at GoodGroupDecisions.com.


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