Does it seem to you that you revisit the same decisions over and over?  Do you make decisions only to have them fumble and die of apathy?  Having meetings that are as effective, tight and productive as a good girdle is great.  But if the decisions made at those meetings do not have buy-in from everyone at the table, or are not formalized, the decisions may be sabotaged and rendered useless and toothless.  What are some signs that a decision is being undermined?  See if any of these sounds familiar: 

1. 1.  The supervisor or manager goes back to his department or unit and announces the decision that has been made, rolls       his/her eyes and says, “ I didn’t agree with this decision, but I got out voted”.  Well there’s a resounding endorsement!  How studious do you think that manager will be at implementing the decision?
2. 2.  The supervisor/manager fails to even report the decision to the appropriate people!  Weeks later his/her staff hear about it from other departments.  
3. As soon as the decision is made some of the participants involved in the meeting and the decisions that were made, start buzzing about the decision, criticizing it, complaining about it, saying how it won’t work. This creates doubt in the ones who did agree wholeheartedly.  People don’t start implementing the decision because it is obvious it isn’t going anywhere.  And who can blame them? 

 

Here’s one way to get commitment about a decision.  Ask each person, individually, to 

say whether they will support the decision and agree to implement it on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being wholehearted support and 5 being no support whatsoever).

Those who are 4’s or 5’s are the ones that may sabotage or ignore a decision sometimes for legitimate reasons.  Ask these folks some of the following questions. 

 

• What is your primary objection to this idea/decision?

• What would have to change for you to support it? 

• How could we change this to make it more palatable to you? 

• Which part of this agreement do you find unworkable? 

• In what ways will this decision negatively impact you or your employees? 

 

Very often, especially for those who are a 4 you will be able to negotiate an agreement very quickly on the spot. 

After discussing their hesitations follow up by saying something like, “OK if that is dealt with, what number would you now be?”  Hopefully it will be category 3 or above! 

 

The key is for you, as manager, supervisor and/or facilitator, to be completely non-judgmental.  These employees are really doing you a favor by raising their objections before the fact. Better to deal with it now than to have the whole decision, agreement, or change fail later by subterfuge or sabotage or lack of buy-in.  

 

Those in category 5 whose objections have not been able to be resolved quickly on the spot may need some more time or a separate on-on one conversation.  

 

If you can anticipate one of the participants will be opposed to this decision (or sometimes, any decision) you may want to discuss it with him/her in advance. Getting the person on board with the general concept in advance makes the discussion about the details, or specifics go more smoothly.  

 

In the end you may have to state your reasons for proceeding, say how it will benefit the organization, state your expectation that the person will support it, and agree to meet at an appropriate time in the future to discuss it again.  For more on decision making see the e-workbook in the resources section of this blog.  

 



 

 



Tags: Decision-Making, Effective Meetings, Management Skills //