The Right Stuff
When faced with an important decision, we often focus on getting it right. The problem is, even if we make the correct decision, we may not end up with the result we wanted. What we decide matters, but how we decide it, and how we communicate about it can have a much larger effect on the ultimate outcome of our decision. Often, that’s the hard part.
Decisions are made in stages. At each step, our goal isn’t just to get it right, it’s to build understanding, trust and buy-in from everyone who will be affected by that decision. We do that with clear communication about what we’re doing, and genuine curiosity about how the process is landing with our teams and how they can help us do better.
Here are the basic stages in the life of any decision, and what needs to be communicated and inquired at each step:
Informing:
Communicate: Here is the situation that needs to be addressed, and the decision that needs to be made. Here’s who will be affected. Here’s who will make the final decision. Here’s when we need to make the decision. Here’s what our decision-making process will look like.
Ask: Do you understand the situation and how we’re planning to approach it?
Input gathering:
Communicate: We’re asking for input from the following people to help us make our decision.
Ask: Tell us what we should be thinking about. What information do we need to know? How might you solve this problem?
Tentative decision and feedback:
Communicate: Here’s what we are planning to do.
Ask: How will that affect you, and your team and your patients? What have we not taken into account?
Final decision:
Communicate: This is what we decided and why we came to this conclusion. Here are some of the alternatives we considered, and why we went in another direction. This is the effect we anticipate, and who will be impacted. This is how we will track the results and get your continued feedback.
Ask: Do you understand how we made this decision and why?
Ideally, for any major decision, you would go through each of these stages. Sometimes, though, the urgency of the situation makes that impossible. If you can’t go through every stage, you need to clearly articulate what stage you’re at, and why you need to skip the earlier steps.
Remember, even the right decision isn’t right if you can’t get anyone else to agree.
