Decision paralysis in meetings? Here’s help.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Gif credit: Giphy.

Almost all business meetings are structured to make decisions. The efficiency with which businesses are able to make decisions and then follow through and execute them differentiates them from their competition.

Meetings are created for one of many tasks – to inform, recommend plans of action, and make or execute decisions. While some tasks may happen outside the actual hours of the meeting, a meeting is a core entity that ties all these together.

The decisions can be strategic or tactical. Strategic decisions have a longer time frame – typically in years – and are made with less data, more vision, and more associated risks. Tactical decisions are short-term, data-driven operational decisions. The time frame for a tactical decision is typically in days, weeks, or months.

There are a few common pitfalls around how decisions are arrived at in meetings and executed that one needs to be cognizant of. Below is a discussion on some of the common issues with decisions and some suggestions on how to avoid them.

Record the decisions taken

The worst thing that can happen to meetings: everyone walks out of it with a different idea of the decisions taken. This is a common issue. It’s important to save some time in the end of the meeting to explicitly state the decisions and also record any disagreements. Most decisions need commitments from multiple stakeholders. Recording a disagreement makes people feel heard and makes it easier to emotionally commit to the decision.

Encourage “disagree and commit”

It’s a fine line between autocracy and decision paralysis through endless analysis. Try to achieve a consensus; make sure everyone is heard. But eventually drive towards a decision – and ensure the dissenting voice is as much on board and committed as everyone else.

Try and create consensus before the meeting

If you sense some decisions will attract more than their fair share of spirited discussions, it’s a good idea to have preparatory one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders before the meeting. Get a good understanding of the issues involved, and build a consensus before going into the meeting. That way, most of the discovery is done – and hopefully, agreements reached – before the meeting. If so, use the meeting to get stakeholders to commit and chart a plan of action. Note that, while one-on-one meetings can be more efficient to build consensus, the social commitment in a larger group of all stakeholders always helps.

Invite the right stakeholders

Not that kind. Photo credit: Khaled Kolfat/Slideshare.

Any decision typically has three types of stakeholders:

• Those who have information and inputs
• Those who have the mandate to drive the decision
• Those who need to execute the decision

Make sure to involve all the above type of stakeholders in the decision-making process. Everyone needs to be heard to arrive at the right decision and then carry out the action plan based on the decision. This should reduce the number of instances decisions need to be revisited.

This article was first published on the Wizergos Blog.