Which of the following is a goal of the structured technique for group decision making

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When I ask people about the decision-making techniques they use, they mention RAPID, RACI, etc. But to me, those are decision distribution frameworks (Usually with a focus on one decider!) -- quite different. And most workers work in teams today - leading to a need for teaching and coaching various decision-making techniques and structured formats for teams to come to a good decision together. Even with a "team" in the Responsible/Decide column, you'll still need a way to decide.

According to some studies, our brains actually function better when we’re interacting with others and experiencing ‘flow’ and ‘togetherness’. And it’s important to consider the environment we want to promote. In an agile environment, people try to promote collaboration, self-organization, and autonomy - which means decision-making patterns are very needed. (For more about autonomy, read my post Dear Executive: Autonomy is not Chaos and to understand why people won't act or self-organize, read my post Dear Executive: Why don't people act? Here's why no one is stepping up)

I have collated some resources here for people to easily read where an approach is applicable and to how to use each of them.

(Special Note: Obviously, context is everything. In an emergency situation, we won’t want to spend time dot-voting - someone just needs to take charge and decide. Those are not the situations I’m talking about here. If you’re familiar with the Cynefin model, this would fall into the Chaotic domain. Here I am referring to decisions that most agile teams are faced with - those often fall into the complex domain.)

Why Group Decisions Lead to Better Outcomes... when done right

Group decision-making (also known as collaborative decision-making or collective decision-making) is a situation faced when multiple people collectively make a choice from the alternatives before them. Decisions made collectively tend to be more effective than decisions made by a single individual (1).  Contrary to common belief, faced with the same objective information, experienced decision-makers do not come up with similar verdicts.

I worked with a VP who hated team decisions. He'd always appoint one person to decide. His attitude was that group decisions led to design by committee or design by consensus, where the outcome pleased no one and was worse than if one person had just decided. That's not the kind of decision-making we mean, or the outcomes that we are talking about!

In a nutshell - teams and decisions today absolutely need diversity of thought. We are trying to solve complex problems. One person making a decision without input is prone to many biases and thinking shortcuts. But to do it without considering how one will approach a decision will often lead to failure to decide; need to escalate to the next level up which causes frustration, delays and reduced trust in the team; and ultimately - poorer decisions.

Decision-Making Boundaries

Get clear on the decision boundaries, how you will decide the decision, and communicate it clearly. It’s absolutely essential for everyone involved to have a shared understanding of the process that will be used. This sounds elementary, but it is important to get people aligned. And remember, just because someone uses the same wording for the kind of decision doesn’t mean they have done it in the same way and you have a shared understanding. Define and document the approach clearly for everyone. Some questions you should answer before trying to decide (obviously, the more important the decision, the more of these you may want to consider & communicate explicitly up front):

• What is the decision to be made?
• Why does this decision need to be made?
• What is the impact of the decision? How will you measure success?
• What is the scope of the decision?
• What is the timeline for the decision itself?
• What’s the timeline to deliver/implement the decision?
• How will the decision be made?
• Will we revisit/iterate on this decision?
• What principles or values do we want to adhere to when making this decision?
• Who will be involved? 
• How will they be involved? 
• What’s the higher purpose behind the decision? 

Meta-Decision-Making: Deciding how to decide

There should be a conversation about how to decide. Not everything has to be consensus or involve everyone. These have been useful to me:

The Decider App

This decider app will help walk you through how to approach your pending decision based on various criteria. It is very helpful in also listing the kinds of decision-making you would consider.

Decision Methods (courtesy of unFIX/Jurgen Appelo)

Check this page for Jurgen's take on various decision techniques. Note there is not much detail in the page, but you may use for ideas.

Seven Levels of Delegation

Scenarios for use

One or more decisions is up for dialogue. The team goes through each decision with the manager, and clearly defines which decision gets which kind of decision: Manager decides, Manager decides with input from others, decision is fully delegated to the team, etc. 

Note: This is useful, but you'll usually still need to use some other format to finally decide.

How to use it

Delegation Poker & Delegation Board

"Inverted Delegation Poker" has also been useful! I adapted these cards from Vivek Ganasan to mention "we" and make more gender neutral pronoun. See the blog post https://medium.com/@VivekGanesan/attacking-empowerment-issues-with-inverted-delegation-poker-f62104c544c7

Decision Proposal Framework

Scenarios for use

 Use when you need to craft a clear proposal and sharpen your thinking around the relevant background, facts, assumptions, constraints, and potential risks that led to it. This format serves to speed up decision processing.

How to use it

Fill out this format: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12Ze2OckjgIQ8Grx32uP_naIF6O6Hicb9f-J-LpsXaqQ/edit

Decision-Making Frameworks

Cautionary note: All of these frameworks have been very useful to me over time. If you are concerned that some folks might vote differently when they see how others vote (called groupthink), consider asking for the vote to take place simultaneously.

Five-Option Vote (for teams or small groups)

Scenarios for use

Group or team needs to align on a decision. This example is using Miro and talks about iterating on a proposal.

How to use it

See this article for more information

Fist to Five

Scenarios for use

Any time a small group needs to get a quick read on who is on board with a proposal. Allows for conversation to gain alignment

How to use it

Here is a link with a great explanation of fist to five. Be sure to define what each hand gesture means in your context (it might need slight revision from the article).

Thumb Voting

Scenarios for use

Any time a small group needs to get a quick vote on yes/no/don't care, stop/start/continue, or similar three options.

How to use it

Someone asks a question. The respondents consider and point their thumbs UP, SIDEWAYS, or DOWN, according to their vote choice. The leader can ask for people to consider their answer and vote all at once, if the team is prone to bias by seeing how others vote. More information.

Dot Voting

Scenarios for use

Anytime a group of people has a group of options to consider and needs to find where the group is gravitating towards. For example options, decisions, things to talk about, etc. 

How to use it

Dot voting is accomplished in person or using an online whiteboard tool. Participants put stickies on a board with their various comments, thoughts, or options.

 Everyone is then given time to consider the thoughts on the board. Each is allocated a number of votes, usually loosely based on the number of people and number of stickies on the board - usually 3 or 5 votes are given per person. Folks can use all their votes on one option, or spread them across various options as they wish. 

The items with the top number of votes gets prioritized first, and so on. 

Here is a detailed article with more information. Some apps, like Miro, Slido, etc. have voting built in. And Zoom offers annotations which can be used for this purpose also.

Advice Process

Scenarios for use

The advice process is a great concept, but in practice only useful if one person or a small group (perhaps a committee tasked with a challenge) takes a strong initiative and has the possibility to change something. I have seen this be most successful to gain alignment and input around a proposal, which that person or group then takes to others (usually formal leadership) to show that they have considered others in the decision and that it is a viable path forward. That may not be the original purpose of this process, which says “anyone can make any decision, so long as they are willing to take responsibility for the outcome, and they have first listened to input from anyone who will be affected, or who has relevant expertise.” Obviously, organizational culture will play a strong role in how successful this process is.

How to use it

Article for more information: Do try this at work: the advice process | by Mark Eddleston | Reinventing Work

Consent (Sociocracy)

Scenarios for use

This is similar to the advice process in my opinion with a little more rigor. When a group has a decision to be made, a proposal is made. Proposals become agreements when all objections have been considered and resolved. In the absence of (further) objections, a decision is considered good enough for now and safe enough to try, until the next decision review.

How to use it

Consent Decision Making in Sociocracy

Decider Protocol (Core Protocols)

Scenarios for use

When a proposal needs to be moved towards a unanimous agreement, this will get folks there. When a person is blocking the proposal, they should have a better idea.

How to use it

Detailed instructions here https://liveingreatness.com/core-protocols/decider/

Integrated Decision Making (IDM)

IDM comes from Holacracy.

Scenarios for use

When a proposal needs to be moved towards a unanimous consensus and agreement, this will get folks there. It focuses on consensus, with objections limited to: ”Do you see any reasons why adopting this proposal would cause harm or move us backward?” And/or “Is it good enough for now, and safe enough to try?”

How to use it

1. Present a proposal

The proposer states their proposal and the issue this proposal is attempting to resolve.

2. Clarifying questions

Anybody can ask questions that seek information or more understanding. These are not judgments or reactions.

3. Reactions round

Each person reacts to the proposal. Discussions are not allowed

4. Amend & Clarify

The proposer can clarify the proposal further, or amend it, based on these reactions. If it’s not possible to amend right away, the proposer can stop the process and go back to the drawing board.

5. Objection Round

Objections are captured without discussion; the proposal is adopted if none come up. Two questions are asked here: ”Do you see any reasons why adopting this proposal would cause harm or move us backward?” And/or “Is it good enough for now, and safe enough to try?”

6. Integration

If an objection is raised, the facilitator tests the objection for validity. If it is found to be valid, they can lead a discussion to craft an amendment that would avoid the objection. If several objections are raised, they are addressed one at a time, until all are removed.

Other Techniques (will be added to over time)

• Majority Vote 
• Red Team Thinking
• Impact Effort Matrix
• https://www.liberatingstructures.com/ls-menu/
• Quaker Decision Making Process

Additional Resources

Avoiding Groupthink - tips and techniques

https://www.amazon.com/Facilitators-Participatory-Decision-Making-Jossey-bass-Management/dp/1118404955/

https://thesystemsthinker.com/the-process-of-dialogue-creating-effective-communication/

Larson, James R (2010). In search of synergy in small group performance. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780805859447.

https://www.amazon.com/Noise-Human-Judgment-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0316451401

Open Leadership Network Patterns

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