High performing teams lock in key decisions differently than mediocre teams. Before a key decision is locked in, high performing teams perform a deliberate ritual, that comprises of the following 3 steps:
1. Go around the team and ask each team member a specific question: “Can you live with and fully support this <critical decision/agreement>?”
2. Once everyone answers “Yes” to this question, only then is the decision locked in.
3. If anyone in the team answers “No”, then this process is paused at that point, and a dialogue commences to:
- understand the specific concerns, and
- explore other options
When key decisions are made this way, you can be confident that the team will get behind the decision, defend it and execute to it. This is because this ritual honours two key psychological needs of all humans:
a/ to have a voice and to be heard
b/ to behave congruently once you’ve made a commitment out of free will
A couple of finer points to this approach:
- The specific words in the question are very deliberate – this is not about reaching consensus and/or agreement – this is about being able to commit to something even though you might have a different view
- In checking for the responses, it is best to look people in the eye when asking the question. This is because you want to ensure congruency between the words and the body language. (We know that 55% of our communication is through body language and the body can’t lie!)
- For this ritual to work, the team needs to feel safe in expressing their views honestly
- In my experience, this process will work at least 90% of the time. In instances where the team reaches an impasse even after extensive exploration, the leader may need to intervene to decide.
Would love to hear about your experiences – please share in the “comments” section below. If you found this post useful, please share with your friends and colleagues. Thanks.
