5 Essential Steps When Your Team Just Can’t Decide

5 Kittens looking Curious
 
​“Ugh, management by committee. I just couldn’t get them to make a decision. It was like herding cats!” Even if you think of yourself as a decisive person, working with a team can make choosing seem much harder. There are so many more opinions to hear, and so many more options that may be put on the table. Add to that, money, impact on people, fuzzy objectives or incomplete information, and you can end up with a real headache on your hands. We’ve discovered five essential steps to keep every decision-making process on the straight and narrow.

 

  1. Know the Context
  2. Identify the Decision
  3. See the Possibilities
  4. Validate Options
  5. Make a Plan

Still not sure you’re ready to herd all the cats? Sign up for weekly news that will help you get there.

Take Your Time!

Planner and clock

Do you have a long list of things you want to do, and never enough time to get them all done? Here’s how to get control of your calendar. Take your time!
 
No, I don’t mean slowing down, although that can be helpful if you use the time to plan, prioritize, and jettison unhelpful commitments. I’m talking about making sure you take the time back, that others want to take from you. That unwieldy list of meetings? Ask for an agenda, and figure out whether there is something you need to learn or contribute. If your presence is simply to be another “warm body” in the room, you may be better off using your time and talent elsewhere. And what about those well-meaning colleagues, neighbours, or friends, who just want “a couple of minutes”, when you’ve scheduled time to work on an important project, or study, or follow through on some other commitment you’ve made to yourself or others? This is truly a time when you need to take [back] your time. Make sure you have a polite response ready, such as “I’ve made a commitment to work on something right now. Can I call/email you when I’m done?” or “I’m working to a deadline at the moment – let me put some time in my calendar for you for when I’m finished, so I can give you my full attention.”
 
Your time is valuable, as are your commitments to yourself and others. You owe it to yourself to take the time you’ve allocated. Remember: someone else’s lack of planning doesn’t need to be your emergency.

I’m Megann Willson, and I’m one of the partners and founders here at PANOPTIKA. Steve Willson and I can work with you to get your priorities straight, giving you more time to find, understand, and keep the customers that will help you build your business and make more money. When you can see everything, you’ll make better decisions. For more ideas, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. And if you’d like a power-packed message directly from us, every week, sign up below.

 

5 Tips to Shut Down the Meeting Room Bully

Stop Bullying Now
​Have you ever been in a meeting, where one person takes over the agenda, commandeers the conversation, and virtually sucks the energy and oxygen out of the room? Sometimes you can be so taken aback, that you don’t even know how to fight. Here are some tips that may come in handy:

  1.  Stare them down. Just like when a two-year-old is throwing a tantrum. Sometimes if everyone simply stops and silently waits, the lack of attention will cut their tirade off at the knees.
  2. Circle the wagons. If they have decided to target an individual and are in attack mode, ignore the bully, but address as many supportive comments as you can to the targeted person.
  3. Keep your buts to yourself. “But” is a signal that you’re not listening, just waiting to interject. It is the same tactic the bully may use. Instead, try “I hear you, and I also think…” 
  4. Take another way home. Sometimes you can’t shut the bully down, but you can work around them and isolate the path to your goal from their negative influence. Eventually they will get the message, or sulk off to their own corner.
  5. The last one, we credit to Megann’s grandfather. Don’t start a fight,  but if they do, stand up for yourself and fight to win. Then walk away.

If you have some boardroom bullies, some negative nitwits, or scared smarties in your office, you may also enlist the help of a professional facilitator. We’d be happy to help.

I’m Megann Willson, and together with my Partner, Steve Willson, we’re PANOPTIKA. We work with our clients to see everthing they need to know (and nothing extraneous) about their customers so they can grow their businesses and make more money. You can find us here, or if you like the blog but forget to check in, you can subscribe. You can also find us on Twitter, or Facebook, or LinkedIn. Did you find this useful? We’d be grateful if you’