Engage Your Team in More Effective Decision Making

Kimberly Douglas • June 24, 2026

"None of us is as smart as all of us." - Ken Blanchard

Greetings!

Before each of my client sessions, I conduct individual confidential 30-minute interviews of the participants. The purpose? To learn their perspective on the business challenges facing the organization and how they would describe the current team dynamics. I then use this information to design their session to meet their specific needs and achieve their unique objectives.


A consistent team challenge I hear is people not being invited or feeling comfortable in sharing their honest opinion on key topics...which results in lower decision quality and limited buy-in to the implementation. To help these teams, I developed 3 specific steps they were able to take immediately to start making more effective decisions that will be executed with excellence.

Step 1: Decide how much participation is needed for this specific decision. Who needs to be included in the decision making process? How critical is the quality of the decision? How urgent is the decision? The Vroom-Yetton Decision Model provides a powerful continuum of decision options for addressing these key issues.


Step 2: Use an effective, proven process for making critical decisions. In a prior newsletter, I outlined my "Wisdom of the Crowds" approach to ensuring every member of the group is given equal voice, without any one person dominating. For decisions that are truly challenging and strategic with long-term implications, I recommend teams use my "3 Stage Decision Making Process".


Step 3: Decide how you will reach agreement and ensure the decision is executed with excellence. Once you have diverged to consider several options, you need to have a clear and effective process for vetting those options and converging on a decision that all participants will support and fully execute.

Let's set up a complimentary call to discuss your team's unique needs. Want to learn more right away? Click the link below for Chapter 12 from my book, The Firefly Effect (Wiley) or visit my blog for more decision-related content by clicking here.

The Firefly Effect (Wiley) - Download Chapter 12: Team Decisions: Fact or Fiction?
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