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“Working with Eric was a pleasure. We developed a good rapport and established a level of honesty and trust. I valued his counsel and recommendations. I find Eric to be very competent in a variety of disciplines. He is able to correctly diagnose organizational problems and suggest solutions that are on point. I found Eric to be a professional with the highest levels of honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior. I would not hesitate to engage his services again in the future.”

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Department of Planning and Development,
City of Seattle
(Kathy is now Director of Planning and Finance for Advocacy and Communications at World Vision.)

“I've worked closely with Eric on developing and presenting the Leadership Eastside community leadership program. He has that rare blend of extensive real-world experience along with a very strong background in theory and research. He moves easily between big picture strategy and the tactical details. Eric brings a superb ability to plan, execute and follow-through, both as a behind-the-scenes planner and as an upfront instructor and facilitator.”

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founding board member,
Leadership Eastside

 

Conflict and change: The blog

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11 June 2008

Don't ask for options

When you ask for input from your people, what do you ask for? Options or criteria?

In my experience, when seeking their people’s input, most managers start with the question: “What should we do?” Or, more generally, “What do you think?”

Both of these questions produce suggestions on what to do. Of course, you are looking for those kinds of ideas, but in many cases, it’s too early to be weighing options. Say you’re dealing with budget cuts. If you just ask for options you’ll get all sorts of proposals—some worthy ones, and some stinkers.

First, you’ve got to decide what makes a good decision: How will the decision be judged? What criteria does the decision need to meet? These criteria can be established in a group setting, or you, as the manager, can decide what they are in advance. In our budget cutting situation, these criteria might include that the cuts (a) meet a certain dollar figure, (b) preserve the core business or program, and (c) have the least long-term impact.

Once the criteria are in place, then it’s time to entertain different options for moving forward. The option that you choose should be the one that best fits the criteria. One of the benefits of clearly establishing the criteria is that when you explain your decision, your rationale is ready-made; all you need to do is show how your decision best meets the criteria.

By starting with criteria, instead of options, you reduce the risk that you’ll make a “hare-brained decision” and increase the transparency of decision making (even if you as the manager make the final call). This will increase support for the decision and satisfaction with the decision process.