“Teamwork divides tasks and multiplies the success”.
It is true in most cases. The work carried out by a tight-knit, compact and qualified team is often indispensable to reach important objectives and goals.
Work teams continuously face choices, and when decisions that have been made are not fully satisfactory or bring to partially successful results, there is always a possibility to adjust your approach.
However, there have been a lot of cases when group decisions led to a team’s or company’s failure. Let’s have a look at one textbook example.
The case of the space Shuttle
NASA, 1986. Space Shuttle Challenger is about to be launched for the tenth time.
All the data, simulations and previous experience prove that this new launch is going to be a success.
Just one man, Bob Ebeling, a NASA booster rocket engineer, does not trust the data. He affirms that the shuttle will explode during the launch due to some construction defects that would not let it withstand high temperatures.
However, his managers decided to rely on the available data. A few seconds after the launch, the shuttle catches fire with 7 astronauts on board.
In this case scientists relied on the data, ignoring a crucial component that had to be considered in a decision-making process, i.e., evidence that would override all the previous studies.
If an event of such magnitude could happen in the heart of NASA, a decision-making failure is yet more common in work teams of SMEs, where a lot of errors occur due to lack of experience, the desire to rely on intuition or failing to consider some essential aspects.
Very often group members tend to follow their colleague’s, partner’s or manager’s opinion without actually considering it critically.
Unfortunately, just like the NASA case shows, it is exactly the ability to recognize and manage contradiction in a team that makes a difference and helps you avoid the group decision-making pitfalls, such as a dangerous groupthink.
We have already seen the main group decision-making methods and it is clear that such concepts as collaboration, comparison, discussion and management of disagreement are key.
In fact, group decision making is so critical for the success of a company or an organisation that it is important to carefully think of strategies and practices to implement to build the foundations of a correct decision-making management, which can really make a difference in an organisation.
Team decision-making strategies
Let’s have a look at some good advice on how to manage your decisions.
The role of facilitator
One of the main obstacles that you can come across during decision-making sessions is the absence of a person who can guide and lead the group to efficient collaboration.
A facilitator is chosen by the group members to organise and control the main aspects of the decision-making process.
In particular, it is the facilitator who coordinates the team in defining the objectives by clarifying and explaining them. The role of a facilitator is crucial since they promote teamwork, maintain a good dialogue and make sure that the group focus on the problem, guiding the members in their attempt to find a solution.
A good facilitator has to be impartial and possess exceptional communication skills to prevent the group from losing track in a futile discussion.
Identifying the problem
How can you make the right decision if the problem stays unclear? It is simply impossible.
Without identifying the problem that requires a solution or the question that has to be analysed, your decision-making session is doomed to failure.
A confused, discouraged team, demotivated by the lack of clarity is not interested in participating in decision making as well as in collaboration itself.
In order to reach a coherent decision based on real facts we have to rigorously define characteristics and aspects that have to be taken into consideration.
How can you describe the situation precisely?
First of all, you should adopt a data-driven approach. You have to analyse the available data critically and, if necessary, collect new information. If your organisation is an established player and with a wealth of experience, the data has to be compared with the evidence accumulated in the previous cases and gained through first-hand experience.
In a new organisation, this gap cab be bridged using competition analysis and studying similar scenarios.
No matter which field you work in, you have to collect quantitative and qualitative data as well as scientific evidence.
Group decision making: have you assessed all possible alternatives?
An established, well-informed and collaborative team are eager to face decision making and look for the best solution.
However, it is possible that team members do not immediately reach a consensus and face a deadlock.
Although group decision making has obvious benefits, such as comparison of opinions and sense of participation, team members can still resign themselves to groupthink, mentioned above, i.e., follow the thinking pattern of the majority that makes them soften their own opinions.
Group members can feel that they are not good enough to make a particular decision and thus remain neutral. Therefore, it is essential to identify and analyse contradictions, stimulate opinion exchange and stay flexible when it comes to determining the maximum number of options.
The importance of training
To avoid failure scenarios, managers and facilitators have to focus on training, during which single team members have to be treated as individuals, rather that group members. A decision-making process can be initiated only when each team member has been fully informed of the problem and has received adequate training.
“A consensus is reached when all group members can say that they agree with the decision or when they have not managed to convince others to agree with their point of view.” This statement confirms the importance of training. (Parker, 2005)
Guidelines are as important as information and training. Explanations to team members regarding brainstorming sessions, meetings and research that has to be done should follow specific and precise guidelines that have to be clear and identical for each team member.
The role of questions
Last but not least, we have to consider asking the right questions. Only the right questions lead to the right answers and help you understand whether your group agree on how and why they have to make a particular decision.
Is the problem clear to everyone? Do we have sufficient data and information to make a decision? Are we aware of the criteria that are used in decision making? Have we assessed advantages and disadvantages of each option?
These are just some of the key questions that a work group have to ask themselves.
Using software is the best way to support a team in decision making. Butterfly is a great example since it assists work teams in managing their judgements in an independent way, enabling them to correctly apply decision-making methods and guiding the process, facilitating archiving of all decisions and creating a data bank. What is especially important, decisions are made on time and according to scientific criteria due to the possibility to collect additional information on the issues in question.
Conclusions
In any industry, medicine, business or marketing, large organisations face challenging decisions every day. No matter how valid and well-structured your strategy is, group decision making is particularly delicate and complex.
Every day, Butterfly supports and assists managers, businesses and organisations in making critical decisions thanks to methodologically advanced but easy-to-use software systems.
The software works by tracking every step of the process, improving the quality of their decision with a data-driven approach, which is compatible with other systems and data bases, enabling them to speed their decisions up with the help of algorithms and vertical solutions.
If you are eager to discover how advanced decision-making processes work, join our community.
It obviously easier and quicker to make a decision alone, but “no matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you are playing a solo game, you will always lose out to a team.”
(Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin)
