Building a Team That Executes and Makes Decisions with Accelerated Velocity
The business world is incredibly competitive, and leaders are always making decisions that could make or break a company. When you find yourself up against a deadline or dealing with a decision that could define your year, it’s crucial that you get it right.
But, you’ll also want to make a quick decision so that you don’t miss out on an opportunity.
So, how do you implement a team that will help you with this essential job?
The truth is that it’s multi-faceted, as you not only need to have the right people in the right roles, but you also have to know how to manage them to get the most out of their skills.
In your role, you’ll not only have to build a team to help you make decisions but also pull the right strings to get them to succeed. It all starts with you, so here are some steps that you can take to ensure that decisions are made accurately and with accelerated velocity within your organization.
Assign Clear Roles and Responsibilities
Perhaps the most critical aspect of team building involves assigning clear roles and responsibilities to each member. You could have the most skilled group of employees on earth, but if none of them know their roles or what they should be doing with their time, your chances of success are slim.
In terms of making decisions, the final choice will come down to one individual, which could be you, but there will be a lot of back and forth before you reach a resolution. To get through the process with accelerated velocity, every cog in the wheel must know the expectations for each scenario.
Before hiring, make sure you’re choosing people who will fit into a role, rather than focusing on their overall skill set. For example, you might be tempted to hire a former decision-maker at a large corporation, but will that individual be comfortable in a role where he or she isn’t making the final decision? Surely this experienced person would be an asset to the team, but it all depends on the assigned role.
Everyone involved in the decision-making process should know where they fit within the team, as this is the only way to come to a consensus quickly.
Ask for Input and Opinions
Part of the decision-making process will involve asking for input from each member of the team you have put together. Rather than doing this in a group setting, it’s often more efficient to ask for data independently. Individual meetings are necessary because every group has several individuals who dominate a conversation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s worth spending the most time listening to their ideas or opinions.
Get input in writing from each member of your team so you can have it easily accessible. Once you’re able to receive feedback from every member of your unit, you can look at what they’ve written and start formulating a plan.
Ask your team members about the goals you’re trying to reach through this decision and how best to achieve them. That way, all of the answers you receive are coming from the same place.
Share Perspectives
You’ll want to have a group discussion about the inputs and opinions of every member of your team. Make sure that you lead this discussion so keep every idea on an even playing field. Once again, different members of your team will prefer varying communication styles, and you don’t want the louder members of the team to dominate the conversation and, therefore, the process.
From there, you can ask members of the team what stands out and what is missing from each idea presented. This step could help you to combine several perspectives into a single plan, hopefully eliminating potential problems from the final product.
Get Employees to Buy-In
Members of a decision-making team might not take kindly to have their input ignored. Egos are always at play, and you want each member of the team to feel like he or she is contributing. For this reason, it’s a good idea to go over your final decision and discuss why you made it and what led to you coming to that conclusion.
In a way, going over your decision will ensure that you include every team member, as you’ll likely take ideas from all of them. Even if you do not, discussing their input is a useful way to keep everyone on the same page and working towards the common goal the next time.
Working as Quickly as Possible
As long as you have the right members on your team, you can improve your decision-making speed by assigning roles and encouraging input from all members of your group. Your team will quickly learn what you expect of them in these situations and will improve their efficiency as time goes by.
Of course, leadership is equally as significant, and if you feel as though you’re struggling in that aspect, you might consider taking some classes through the Leadership Development Institute. The coaching services available through LDI will give you the skills needed to not only choose the right team members but also show you how to get the most out of your decision-making team