The fourth type of decision is consensus, this is where we as a team all agree. Voting is very clear, and there's times when you can't make a decision that you can then just vote it out. We wanna make sure that we're being very respectful when it comes to vote because by virtue, with voting is that there's two sides to the story. Everybody has an opportunity to express themselves, good, bad, or indifferent. But what you have to really be careful with when you're going with this type of decision is that you hear everybody out. The good thing about a vote though is that it's very clear. There's sometimes when the room is divided, and you have to take a vote, and the majority wins. You may not necessarily agree, but you allow them that platform to be able to discuss it. But you will get more people to actually go along with you in that decision if you consult. If the outcomes are not so good, you're all sharing it. So if the outcomes are good, you all share in it. I love this type of decision making (when executed correctly) because it allows you to have shared responsibility, good or bad. And the people that you're communicating with are going to be able to sense that this is really a command decision, and you're kind of masking it as a consulting type decision, which is not a good thing.
Often times, if you are actually trying to make a command decision, but you raise it as a consult decision, it's going to come off very insincere. You really want to understand what the rest of the team has to say before you make that decision. With consult this is very collaborative, but you have to mean it, right? So if you're going to make a decision based on a group thing or within your family, you have to really want the opinions of the other person.
This is a decision type, remember that we don't do every single day, but sometimes as leaders we need to make these tough decisions. So that's a first step of decision which is command. Is there a component of that decision where you think that you need to flexible and a little bit reasonable? With command though, I would encourage you to have some areas where you may be a little bit flexible. Offer them the courtesy to explain to them why you've already made that decision, and why you're not necessarily open to a discussion on it. It's important to not act as if you want somebody else's opinion if you've already made the decision. We're not gonna do these kind of decisions every day, but very rarely when it's corporate. Not everyone is going to agree with your decision, necessarily, but it has to be done. Use this when you have a tight deadline, when you know ultimately that the decision that you have to make is gonna be a hard one. Right, don't go around commanding your family, your teams, your friends to do what they have to do. But there's sometimes that there is those circumstances as leaders that we just have to make a decision and when we have to make that decision it is called command.Ī couple of things to take into consideration if you're going to make a command decision:ĭo not pass these out like candy. You have to be really careful with command though, because sometimes it can come off too authoritative - It can come off too demanding. So what is command? Command is a decision that you make without involving others. And if you wanna follow with me, this is actually starting on page 180 of the book. So the first one is going to be on command.
CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS SUMMARY FULL
So today, I actually want to talk about the full elements of making a decision, and how do you decide. These are the type of conversations that if not done properly the consequences can be very severe. These are conversations that we're having at home, we're having amongst our friends, our colleagues within our teams and our organizations. Now what is a crucial conversation? These are the conversations that we have when the stakes are really high. This book has so much valuable information that I'm going to try to dissect it and break it down for you all as much as I can.
CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS SUMMARY SERIES
I'm going to be doing a full part series summary on the book Crucial Conversations.