Decision making in a project team setting

Have you ever watched how decisions are made in a project team setting? If you really pay attention, they happen more often than you might initially surmise. I suggest you try it sometime soon the next time you attend a meeting - whether a staff meeting or a project team session. Take notes when you perceive a decision being made or, better yet, when there is an opportunity for a decision to be made. Sometimes they're obvious, when a team leader speaks aloud about when the next meeting will take place. Sometimes they're indirect, such as when someone voices a concern over an issue, and it gets brief air time and then the discussion drifts, and voila! there has been a de facto decision about that issue - that there is NO decision rendered. You see, in my opinion, NOT making a decision is tantamount to a decision, because the decision opportunity was exercised, with the result being "no" decision or a "deferred" decision.

Last year I worked with ten product and project management teams for a month during their regular team meetings, and sat in (or listened in) on 25 meetings during that time. My primary motive was to watch (listen) for decisions - if they were made, how they were made, by whom were they made, what types of decisions were made.

Here's what I found:

A. Decision opportunities: an average of 4.6 per meeting, high of 9, low of 1
B. Outcomes: decision reached 51% of the time, meaning 49% of time no decision was made
C. Time to reach decision: average ~10 minutes; high of 2 hours, low (many of them) less than 30 seconds
D. Types of decisions
- Routine: 51% (such as when to hold the next meeting)
- Complex: 49% (has a bearing on cost, schedule, or technical parameters)
E. How and by whom? (more than 100% because many had two features)
- 7% were made unilaterally by team leader
- 59% were made jointly by team leader and other team members
(either by consensus or voting)
- 54% included analysis - inputs, evaluations, or tradeoffs
- 17% included more formal negotiation or escalation to a higher authority

These data are telling about the organization involved, but merely interesting to anyone else. The point is, if you want to understand how a team, and the organization to which it belongs, really fosters inclusion and empowerment, watch and listen and learn how decisions are made.

Are they made in the open or in 'back rooms'? Are decisions ever rescinded? An authoritarian team or organization will have a high percentage of unilateral decisions. A collaborative or inclusive team or organization will be more democratic, and will be made jointly. Recognize too that things change over time, and with the personalities of the leaders that often change (I once tracked team member turnover for 3 consecutive years of a 300+ member organization, and team members turned over at an annual rate of 30%+ each year!).

You might also have the chance to influence some of this by bringing it to the attention of the team leader and other team members. Watch, listen, observe, and learn!