Innovative Decision-Making Model
Five Ways That Work for Us
Ever had someone else's decision shoved down your throat? I sure have.
On of the most interesting and gratifying things about where I work now is the company's decision making model. I work for Berrett-Koehler Publishers, an independent nonfiction publisher in Oakland, California. We use this model for everything we do, from selecting new books to publish to choosing what drinks to stock in our fridge. When any decision is on the table, we ask "Who's the decision steward?" and "What's the decision-making model?"
The model is to answer five questions for each decision:
1. What is the decision to be made?
Anyone proposing a change, leading a project, managing a program, or otherwise making something new happen that substantially affects other staff members will describe what decision or decisions are needed that involve other staff members. Any staff member affected by the matter may suggest other decisions or alternative wordings of decisions to be made. If there is uncertainty or disagreement about what decision or decisions are to be made, this will be decided by the organization leader whose responsibility encompasses the areas substantially affected by the decision.
2. Who is the decision steward?
This is the person who will manage the decision process. Usually (but not always) it will be the person who has taken the initiative to propose a change, lead a project, manage a program, or otherwise make something new happen that requires one or more decisions. If there is uncertainty or disagreement about who is the decision steward, this will be decided by the organization leader whose responsibility encompasses the areas substantially affected by the decision.
3. Who should be involved in the decision?
All of us make many decisions every day for which no one besides ourselves needs to be involved. This model comes into play when one or more of the following should be involved in the decision: specific staff members, a whole department, a boss or subordinate, the management team, the whole staff, the board of directors, a specific author, a group of authors, customer representatives, a specific service provider, a group of service providers, or other stakeholders. The decision steward should generally take the lead in deciding who to involve in the decision, based up the guidelines of involving those who are substantially affected by the decision, have a desire to be involved, and who represent the “whole system” relating to a particular issue. In order to determine this, the decision steward will often need to ask individuals or groups if they want to be involved. Sometimes, for practical reasons, representatives of a group rather than the whole group will be involved. Any staff members can involve themselves or others in a decision by requesting that they be involved.
4. How should these persons be involved in the decision?
Inform? - The persons are kept informed in a timely way regarding what is going on but are not asked to give input into the decision.
Examples of INFORM decisions: Most of our daily work such as choosing our partners and implementing our respective departmental plans.
Consult? - The persons are consulted before the decision is made to get their input, so that they feel that they have been heard even if the decision goes against their advice.
Examples of CONSULT decisions: Setting the goals and priorities per year is determined by the management team, but the staff is consulted for suggestions and feedback. Department heads consult other staff members when they hire new employees, but the decision is theirs.
Majority Vote? - The decision is made by taking a vote of those involved, with a majority of votes deciding the matter even though some persons may object to the decision.
Examples of MAJORITY VOTE decisions - We vote by majority vote each year at our staff meeting what our annual cost-of-living salary increase should be. Recommended books by our editors are either approved or rejected by majority vote at our bimonthly publication board meetings.
Consent? - Consent means that every person involved in the decision can see sufficient reasonableness and thoughtfulness in the decision to “live with it,” even though some may not agree with it and might decide differently if they were making the decision.
Examples of CONSENT decisions - Promotions are decided by the six-person management team using consent. If we terminate an employee, which happens rarely, the department head seeks consent from the rest of the management team.
Consensus? - Consensus has been reached when every person involved in the decision can say: “I believe that this is the best decision we can arrive at for the organization at this time and I will support its implementation.”
Examples of CONSENSUS decisions - During the 2008-2009 economic recession, the employees had to decide between taking a 10% salary cut or laying off one or two employees. We used the consensus model to make this decision. All 25 employees voted unanimously to take a 10% salary cut.
When proposing changes, projects, programs, and other matters, the decision steward will propose what levels of involvement will apply for those involved in the decision. As a practical matter, most decisions will be at the Inform or Consult level of involvement. For any decision, some persons may be involved at one level while others are involved at other levels. This decision about the level of involvement will be subject to consent by the organization leader whose responsibility encompasses the areas substantially affected by the decision. The decision steward will manage the process to obtain the needed level of involvement to reach a decision.
5. What decision has been made?
The decision steward will make sure that the prior four steps are followed, and, if so, announce in a timely manner to those involved in the decision what decision has been made. The organization leader whose responsibility encompasses the areas substantially affected by the decision will be responsible for making sure that the decision steward has followed the four steps.
If you would like to hear more about our decision-making model, and how we use it in communications with our authors, board, affiliate organizations, partners, and customers, please get in touch with me at [email protected].
Attributions: Except for my introduction and examples of when we use the five different methods, the entire text above comes from the Berrett-Koehler HR manual. The text about the CONSENSUS method comes directly from our BK Business book Consensus Through Conversation, by Larry Dressler.