Page 242 - Fearless Leadership

Aligning Emotionally and Intellectually 229

one play big and surrender the right to dominate with personal agendas,
preferences, and positions.

Declaring Decision Types: Providing Clarity before
Asking for Alignment
People need to know where you stand on a decision before they engage
in a conversation to align. There is nothing more frustrating or time-con-
suming to a group than spending time on an issue only to discover that
the leader has already made a decision.
A key element in productive decision-making dialogues is declaring
decision types—providing clarity on whether the decision has been made
and if not, who will make it. Declaration of decision types is the account-
ability of the leader or decision owner.

The Consequences of Asking a Group to Make
a Decision and Then Changing Your Mind
Talley, the senior vice president of customer relations, asked her team
to “decide” on the strategy for a new and prestigious customer
account. Talley’s group spent a significant amount of time and effort
on the project and took full ownership. They aligned on an approach,
but that’s when the problems began.

What Happened. When they presented their “decision” to Talley
she said: “I appreciate your input and ideas and I’ll take them into
consideration when I make my final decision.” The group was speech-
less. For the past several weeks they had engaged as decision own-
ers, not as a recommending body. Talley, on the other hand, didn’t
think twice about changing her mind midstream and withdrawing
the decision-making power from the group.
Needless to say, group members reacted with anger and disgust.
This wasn’t the first time they had wasted time on a decision that
Talley either had already made or decided she was going to make on
her own. One group member said, “This is typical Talley. I could kick
myself for falling for this again. She knew what she wanted before we
started this discussion, and we never really had any authority to make
the decision. What a waste of time.”