Increase Delegated Decision-Making

In this page we consider how to Distribute Decision-Making Rights.  Delegating decision-making to others can be a powerful way to increase ownership behaviours, speed up decisions, improve decision quality and improve your results. However, it also requires a lot of ground-work.

As we've discussed elsewhere (in the 4A Framework), autonomy, a clear understanding of their scope of authority and a matching level of accountability is what engages and unlocks the potential of a workforce.  However, not all decisions are equal. Some are strategic, some are operational, some are urgent, some are complex.   As such, clear rules regarding who makes which type of decisions, how, and when are required.

There are six essential methods to make decisions: Autocratic, Delegation, Democratic, Consensus, Avoidance and Consultative.  See also Making Better Decisions.

Start by deciding how your team will make decisions. Read this post to help you choose the right decision-making method for your team.

Watch This Space

•  rule of thumb is that decision-making rights should lie with those closest to the information or issue, and/ or with the problem owner rather than the source of power. Give employees explicit authority to make decisions based on their roles, accountabilities, and expertise.
  Encouraged employees to make decisions and consult their bosses only when they need context.

• Decision-making authority is dynamic - it can change.  For example employees may have full authority to make any decision in regular times. But, during a crisis, a senior leader may take full control and be more active in the moment.

Decision-making can vary depending on the nature of the issue.

For regular tensions, use consent (not consensus) to address problems and make decisions. However, when it comes to customer service, each customer representative has full autonomy to make any decision to "wow the client." The belief is that the person closest to the customer is better informed to make the right call.

Distributing authority is not a binary thing, however. There are various shades of gray between a top-down organisation and a decentralised one.

There's no such thing as a perfect decision-making method – each has pros and cons. However, regardless of if you use consent, an advisory process, or a democratic approach, clarity and distributed authority are vital. Define and communicate your decision-making culture. Vroom-Yetton-Jago

Related pages:

• Making Better Decisions

• Governance & Oversight

• Costs of Delays and Decisions

• Just In Time

• Deferring Decisions

• Theory of Constraints

• Knowledge is the Bottleneck

• Psychological Safety

• Alignment

• Autonomy

• Trust