If it is not clear how a group makes decisions, the person who whines the loudest or speaks last, often gets there way.

Decision Making

In making difficult decisions, groups need to be clear on how the decision will be made. Will they talk until everyone agrees? How long will they talk? Will they vote? Will they talk for hours only to have a supervisor make the decision for them? Knowing how decisions are made is critical to good group process. But regardless of how good of a process a group has to make decisions, unless they commit to the following disciplines and commitments, they are bound to be frustrated.

1. Key disciplines
Assumption: Groups fragment and conflict erupts not so much from disagreement but rather from people not feeling heard. Therefore, any decision making process will be frustrating to a group unless the group commits to practicing disciplines of communication. Group process goes beyond decision-making.
• Active listening
• Summarizing
• Inquiry and seeking information
• Noticing feelings in the group
• Paraphrasing
• Asking clarifying questions
• Seeking information
• Giving process suggestions (once the content that is being talked about is decided, the group --or facilitator-- still needs to figure out how to talk about it, i.e. brainstorm, prioritize lists, comparison grids, . . . )
• Begin and end meetings on time
• Have the scribe read back decisions at the end of meetings

2. Key commitments
Assumption: Pressure to make a decision often keeps groups from communicating well and fully understanding each other. This is especially problematic around key decisions.
It is critical that the group commit to taking time to understand each others ideas before deciding. This means committing to giving difficult decisions enough time, ideally at two different meetings to separate the phase of understanding each other and the implications of certain decisions from the phase of actually making the decisions.

3. Key Processes
Who makes decisions and how are they made? We will explore some options for this in our next e-zine.
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