There's only one wrong way to make decisions
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Hey Reader, After years of working with mission-driven companies and nonprofits, there is one thing I’ve seen grind momentum to a halt and drain resources more often and faster than any other: decision-making. Or rather, not making decisions (well). I see decision-making almost as a litmus test for an organization's operational or strategic effectiveness. When I ask, “Who makes the decision about this?” or “How will we decide on a path forward?” and get different answers from different people, an answer that doesn’t seem to fit with the organization’s culture, or simply no answer at all, it's a red flag for me. If you don't know or aren't aligned on who makes decisions or how they are made, how can you get anything meaningful done? (If this rings true for your team or your organization, trust me: you are not alone.) Whether you categorize decision-making as an aspect of your organization's culture, its operations, or something else, one of the most important aspects of the way a company functions is how decisions are made. (Never mind how they implemented. That’s an essay for another day!) There’s no one right way to make decisions, but there is a wrong way – and that’s to do it without deciding and articulating how best to make decisions in the first place at your organizationTo do this, you first have to diagnose what kind of decision-making culture you have right now. Once you define the problem, then you can begin to solve it. So what kind of decision-making culture do you have? Here are three of the most common I see:Quick and dirtyPeople make decisions quickly; almost too quickly. Decisions aren’t well-considered (they might seem like they were just picked out of a hat) and folks often hold conversations and take action in siloes, typically in the name of being decisive or getting things done. The outcome? When you move fast and break things, you end up with broken things. Last-minute ghost leadersThere is a decision-maker, but that person is never actually in the room, is too busy or overwhelmed to catch up on whatever is being discussed, and often swoops in at the last minute with some vital piece of information, insight, or opinion that derails any progress being made. Often, everyone else has already started to take action, so scrambling and half-baked pivots ensue. The result? No strategy, lots of head-scratching. Hobbled by consensusThere are few things more important than listening to others. But you could hear from every single person on earth to help inform a decision; that doesn't mean you'll actually make the decision. You still have to determine how the decision will be made based on the information you've gathered. Will everyone get a vote and the majority determines the outcome? Will one person make the final decision after listening to everyone? Who is that person? There are plenty of ways to include stakeholders in the decision-making process. But you have to…actually do it (rather than having endless discussions and meetings and hoping some sort of decision or strategy will emerge on its own). Once you know how your organization typically makes, neglects to make, or makes poor decisions, you can make the most important decision of all: the decision about how to most effectively make decisions going forwardUnless you consciously and intentionally decide how to make decisions, the default is to backslide into a poor decision-making culture. And you have to decide in a way that makes sense at your organization, for your people, for the kind of work you do, for the kind of culture you have, and for the kinds of problems you solve. Once you diagnose and decide how to make decisions, it’s time to:
Again, there’s no one right way to make decisions – but there is a wrong wayAnd that’s to plow forward without deciding how to best make decisions in the first place. Based on your organization’s culture and objectives, there are methods that will make more sense than others. But people have to know what they are, which means that leaders – you – first have a decision to make. Happy decision-making, Caitlin Caitlin Harper P.S. – A new year means the opportunity to work on new projects! I have capacity for one or two clients in H1 of 2026. If you are trying to design strategies that work, lead change, develop clear and compelling stakeholder communication, and (yes) make meaningful decisions, let’s set up time to talk about what success looks like for you and your organization next year. |