When Teams Can't Decide

Frisch, B. (2008, November). When Teams Can't Decide. Harvard Business Review, 121-126.

Summary

Stalemates on teams can make a leader seem like a dictator. This article focuses on practical ways to help leaders evolve the decision-making process and create genuine team alignment.

Experience

I’ve seen teams struggle with decision-making over and over. In my current role, we are encouraged to identify a single decision-maker in our teams. This is a bit antithetical to what the article proposes, and because of having a single-decision maker, we often encounter the same issues in teams as described in the text. What I like about what is presented in this article is the more inclusive approach to decision-making to gain full alignment.

KEYWORDS: Decision-making, desired outcome, options, fences, walls, preferences, pros and cons, time frame, confidentiality