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minus methods. Instead, add to them selectively. The choice of tools may seem overwhelming at first.
Having too many options—even good ones—can cause “decision paralysis,” as Dan and Chip Heath
describe in Switch. Decision paralysis happens when people freeze and don’t pick anything at all
when they’re overloaded. So get some recommendations. Ask experts to help you select the best
decision tools for your specific situation.

Want to learn more? Take a deep dive…

Teepe, T. (2009). Problem solving ideas that work [YouTube].
Wolf, R. F. (2012, September 24). How to minimize your biases when making decisions. Harvard
Business Review.
Zwilling, M. (2011, July 19). Nine steps to effective business problem solving. Business Insider.

4. Wonder who to include? Let the demands of the situation guide you. You want to make the best
decision you can. How you arrive at what best means will vary. Sometimes it’s appropriate to make
the call alone, other times it’s best to engage others. Consider complexity, expertise, execution, and
timing. The more complex the situation is, the more you’ll need multiple perspectives. When people
hold different pieces of the information puzzle, you need to bring them together. The more that
commitment is required for follow through, the more you should involve the people responsible for
execution. If you want to develop people’s leadership skills, push decisions down to the lowest
possible level. If a decision needs to happen fast (like in a crisis) and you are the expert, make it
yourself. Be up front about what decision process you’ll use. If you want someone’s advice but know
they won’t have a say in the final decision, just tell them. Trust can erode if you ask for someone’s
opinion but don’t use it. In all cases, explain to stakeholders how the decision came about.

5. Too much agreement in the group? Encourage open dialogue and debate. When all heads nod
and people see issues similarly, the decision-making process goes faster. But faster doesn’t
necessarily lead to better. To reach optimum decisions, all angles of an issue need to be discussed.
Don’t stop when the first acceptable solution is presented. Welcome dissenting voices—they enhance
decision quality by forcing people to expand their perspectives. Separate the facts from the opinions.
Spark debate through questioning. What are our assumptions? What’s missing? What’s another way
to interpret the data? What other alternatives could work? What’s the best possible end result? What
might go wrong? Another approach is to assign someone to play devil’s advocate—to poke holes in
the current logic. Do whatever you can to reduce groupthink, which is conformity of opinion. Pressure
to conform can cause people to censor their views and ignore vital data. Whether you’re the decision
owner or contributor, insist on candid dialogue.

6. Virtual teams need decision-making assistance? Use collaboration tools. There are many
benefits to virtual teaming, but one drawback is the loss of communication horsepower due to limited
face-to-face communication. Language barriers and the lack of non-verbal cues can at times strain
mutual understanding, which is needed for making quality decisions. However, research shows that
there are also advantages to asynchronous communication when instant decisions aren’t required. By
using virtual collaboration tools, people have more time to carefully write or illustrate their point of
view. More time to reflect on others’ ideas or data presented before responding. There’s less a

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