Shelly (VP HR): Here we go again! Another battle between Jack and Erik. Guess I’ll have to step in a referee one more time…
Matt: (VP Marketing): Geez, I’ve got a tee time at 10:15 and this is going nowhere. Why don’t they just take the usual vote and get it over with?
The senior leadership team is discussing the CEO’s plan to replace the current ERP system. There’s been heated debate between him and his top IT executive. Even the CFO seems against the move. Jack, the CEO, doesn’t want to dictate such a significant decision but he can’t wait around forever for other people to get on board. There are staffing and training implications that will impact the HR staff so Shelly wants to be involved in the decision. But Matt, the top marketing officer has made it clear he doesn’t want to have anything to do with the matter.
How this important decision will be made is one indicator of the effectiveness of the team as well as the team leader. But, contrary to popular belief, not everyone needs to even be involved. Jon Katzenbach, expert in team dynamics, suggests, “In a real team, the right person or persons make the decisions; group consensus is not required.”[i]
There are dozens of choices and decisions that leaders make every week and high performing teams are versatile in the approaches they take to making them. Some leaders and organization development experts believe that top teams need to spend more time together building consensus. Instead, the focus should be on developing versatility and efficiency in decision making. That requires teams to become more aware of the decision making process within their team and make conscious and intentional choices about who will be involved and who is ultimately going to make a decision.
“Many top leadership challenges that constitute real team opportunities simply do not require or warrant active participation by all who have been designated as, ‘on the team.’”[ii] Effective teams put egos, tradition, and political correctness aside. They configure their decision making processes after weighing time, capability and capacity tradeoffs. Otherwise, time is wasted and others in the organization are misled into believing that consensus is the goal instead of the quality of the decision. Top teams are most productive when they make more effective use of a variety of decision making modes and membership configurations.
Team Productivity Strength #5 – Decision Making: The team has clear and efficient decision making processes.
Jane Patterson, an Executive and Team Development Coach, is an authorized Facilitator of the Team Diagnostic Assessment, a proven model that helps build the strengths for high-performing, sustainable teams. She is managing partner of Cornerstone Team Development www.cornerstonetd.com
[i] Katzenbach, Jon R. Teams at the Top: Unleashing the Potential of Both Teams and Individual Leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1998. 9. Print.
[ii] Katzenbach 133.
Tags: c-suite Pittsburgh, Executive Coaching Pittsburgh, leadership, senior leadership teams, Team Coaching, top teams
